The World Is Not Enough: The Kanto Journeys
by Kantaris
Summary: REVAMPED & UPDATED, PLEASE REVIEW! Kantaris is just another Team Rocket member. But she has an ambition. Armed with only her dreams and determination, she sets out to go where very few Rockets have gone before: straight to the top.
1. Prologue

**DISCLAIMER:** I don't own Pokémon or any of its characters, place names, etc. The only characters I own here are the lovely Samara Kantaris (or rather, she owns me...hehehe), her 'rival' Ivan and I guess I own Stella as well. If any other names come up that you don't recognize, they're probably mine as well. But any others aren't (I heartily wish I owned Lance and Giovanni but sadly I don't). Any surnames I give characters are probably my own creations as well (based on nothing in particular). Check the disclaimers at the tops of the chapters, please, if you're bothered...

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:** This is the first time I've ever written anything like this so please give feedback (but no flames please!)...any suggestions about how detailed I should be with the battles and the Pokémon catching etc. would be nice!

About the rating: it's rated 15 for the occasional swear word. If anyone thinks it should be different, let me know.

Don't you just hate it when people start writing something, then they just kinda abandon it? Hehe...well, I shouldn't think that's gonna happen here because this is a storyline I've always wanted to write out, for real. 'The World Is Not Enough' is eventually gonna end up as a series of stories, as you might have guessed from the title. I've already written the last chapters of 'The Kanto Journeys' (this one) as well as a few of the most interesting/important chapters from the other parts. It's just the bits in between that I'm having trouble with...I wanna make it ALL as interesting as possible. So if it's taking me a while to get round to the next chapter, that probably means I'm deep in thought ...

Hope you enjoy it so far! (And if not, it gets better a lot later in my opinion)

* * *

Samara Kantaris was born in Saffron City, an only child. Her parents were both classy business people working in the administration area of the Indigo League. They encouraged Samara to get a good education and follow in their footsteps, but their daughter was far too rebellious and arrogant to even consider obeying her parents. At the age of thirteen, she ran away and spent most of her time with a street gang. The gang disbanded a few years later, but by now, Samara already had close ties with the infamous Team Rocket.

Her story started when she was seventeen years old, working for Team Rocket. It was a great time to be a Rocket: they were in the process of taking over Silph Corporation, and Samara – known only as Kantaris by now – was in an abandoned warehouse waiting there with an influx of Rocket Grunts lest they need more manpower over at the Silph Office. In the eyes of Giovanni, Team Rocket's leader, Kantaris was the image of perfection. Okay, so she wasn't the best Pokémon trainer ever (but then again, who in Team Rocket was?). But she had wiles and natural charm, she could get away with anything, and she had a somewhat evil genius when it came to thinking up plans. There was no Rocket more loyal or dedicated. However: Kantaris' path was about to change...

"No-one ever died from wanting too much" – 'The World is Not Enough' by Garbage


	2. Every Journey Begins

**DISCLAIMER:** I don't own Pokémon or any of its characters, place names, etc. The only character I own here is the lovely Samara Kantaris.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:** This is the first time I've ever written anything like this so please give feedback (but no flames please!)...I dunno how detailed I should be with the battles and the Pokémon catching etc. so if anyone has any suggestions, that would be nice! Hope you enjoy it so far!

(And for any pedantic people...hehehe...yes, I know Lance traditionally has red hair, okay? Let's say he dyed it, or something...)

Kantaris and her team of Rockets were sitting in a warehouse on the outskirts of Saffron City, another of Team Rocket's many hideouts. It wasn't exactly her squadron – she herself was only a Grunt like the rest of them – but all of the Elite and Executive Rockets were too busy at Silph to be in backup. Kantaris liked to think of herself as a 'higher Grunt', so she'd kind of taken charge of the group.

* * *

The lights were out. The only illumination came from a chink under the back door, and a flickering candle at the other end of the room. They were all silent. All they could hear was the rush of vehicles outside. Kantaris was sitting with her back pressed against the door, holding her breath. She clutched her pager in both hands and bit her lip, thankful that none of her teammates could see the worried expression on her face. She was worried like crazy about what was going on in Saffron City. It was the best thing Team Rocket had ever planned, and yet it stood on the edge of a knife. One mistake, and it would fall apart.

When Kantaris had left the Silph Office (reluctantly), Giovanni had seemed content. But they both knew that it wouldn't be over until they had Silph's manager's signature permanently on that contract. How close was that to happening? Would it happen at all? Kantaris had no idea. She let out her breath in a shaky sigh.

After what seemed like an eternity, the pager beeped.

"Let's move!" Kantaris whispered.

There was the sound of about twenty guns being sheathed, and then Kantaris threw open the back door. She threw two sets of keys to two of her teammates. They all piled into three black minivans waiting outside the door.

About fifteen minutes later, they pulled up at the back door of the Silph Office. An Elite Rocket, dressed in black, was already there waiting. He sneered.

"Reinforcement, what took you so long?"

"What's the problem?" Kantaris asked, unfazed.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," he replied, leading the team inside and into the massive downstairs foyer.

Kantaris paled.

"Try me," she said.

"Some kid managed to break his way into the office. He defeated all our guards and everything. The amount of time you guys took to get here...! He must be on the sixth floor by now!"

Kantaris turned to her squadron.

"You lot," she said, gesturing to half of them, "go find the brat and take care of him. The rest of you, come with me."

"Yes, _Miss_ Kantaris," they replied sarcastically.

"Oh, don't argue with me. Now isn't the time."

Half of the team charged the staircase while Kantaris and the rest took the lift up to the top floor. When they got there, they drew their guns and hastened down the corridor to the main office. They were halted by a Rocket Executive.

"You can't go in there," he said. "The Boss is in a battle."

"A battle? Bullshit! With who?"

"A kid fought his way up here and challenged the Boss to a fight. He said that if he didn't accept, he'd tip off the cops."

Kantaris shook her head. The police probably knew that they were there by now anyway. But Giovanni would never turn down a challenge.

"You guys better turn round and head back to where you came from," the Executive said. "If the Boss loses, we're out of here. All of us."

Kantaris fought her way past him – despite her average height and young appearance, she was pretty strong – and she burst into the office. Sure enough, there was the kid. He couldn't have been more than thirteen years old. He looked like a street rat, dressed in filthy jeans and a torn jacket. Strands of his dark hair stuck out from under a faded cap. And yet, on the pocket of his tatty jacket gleamed five Pokémon gym badges. Kantaris stopped in her tracks.

"Okay, Vaporeon, finish it off with a Bubblebeam!"

Kantaris watched in a mixture of horror and fascination as the impressive-looking Vaporeon unleashed a powerful Bubblebeam upon Giovanni's Golem. The Golem went down instantly and the kid re-called his Pokémon. Giovanni slammed his fists down onto the desk in rage. Kantaris flew out of the room and down three flights of stairs. The place was deserted – everyone else had cleared out already. _Bloody cowards. _Kantaris' common sense told her to do the same, but she didn't leave. She stayed behind and waited.

Suddenly, the kid tore past her, a streak of red and blue.

Half an hour later, the team had dispersed. Kantaris and her squadron were at the underground basement in Celadon City. Giovanni was in his office downstairs, furious and inconsolable. Kantaris had decided to leave him to it – he obviously didn't want to speak to anyone at the moment. And everyone knew that if he would want to talk to anyone, it would be Kantaris. The Rockets had dubbed her 'the Boss's confidante'. They often teased her about it. Some of them may have been jealous, but Kantaris shrugged it off either way. It had never mattered to her what anyone thought. She did what she liked, and she liked being in Team Rocket, even though she wasn't very popular among the Grunts. She wasn't very popular anywhere, come to think of it. The Grunts resented her for acting above her station, the Elites resented her for rebelling against their authority and trying to be one of them, and the Executives just couldn't understand what Giovanni saw in her.

So, after failing to calm Giovanni down or get any information about the boy who'd defeated him, Kantaris put on her long black leather jacket that hid her uniform, and she went out for a while. As she was walking, she thought about the kid. He'd seemed a very powerful trainer for his age. Heck, he'd beaten off all the guards at Silph, and as if this wasn't enough, he'd beaten Giovanni, whom Kantaris had always thought to be pretty unbeatable: he'd taught her everything she knew about Pokémon training and she'd never managed to beat him. Never. And those gym badges...that kid had only had four or five but he could have had all eight judging from how strong he was.

_Some people are just talented like that._

Kantaris stopped by the Pokémon Centre on the street corner. Just outside the door, as usual, was the usual box of pamphlets about the Pokémon League. Kantaris had never really paid much attention to them, but now she picked one up. She'd never really given much thought to the Gym Challenge before, but having been around Giovanni who was a Gym Leader himself, she knew the ropes.

_Eight badges to collect...then the Elite Four... _

Kantaris glanced down at the two Pokéballs at her waist. They were the only Pokémon to her name. There was a Cyndaquil that rarely listened to a word she said, probably because she didn't have the right badges. And then there was Stella, a Misdreavus that Kantaris had been given when she was eleven years old. She was of a reasonably high level but she always listened to Kantaris. They had a special bond. Kantaris sometimes thought that Stella was her only friend.

It wasn't as if Kantaris didn't have confidence – no, she had plenty of that – and it wasn't that she considered herself to be a bad trainer. Compared to the rest of the Rockets, she was very good. She'd even been to Pokémon Stadium before and won one of the major tournaments there. In fact, the only reason she'd never really considered doing the proper Gym Challenge before was out of her own laziness. She couldn't be bothered training that much or catching Pokémon in an honest way and levelling them up. And besides, at the Stadium, it was no big deal if you didn't win. In the actual League, Kantaris had heard, it could all get pretty serious. And she wasn't sure if she wanted that. Kids these days would charge into Pokémon training blissfully unaware of the selfish, cutthroat industry that awaited them if they made it beyond Viridian City Gym. That didn't happen often, anyway. Kantaris had seen Giovanni end the careers and shatter the dreams of lots of young trainers. She was sure that it had to hurt.

Kantaris had decided a long time ago that if she were ever going to become an excellent trainer, it would be for the good of Team Rocket. That was where her loyalties lay. But after seeing that kid and his confidence...she wasn't so sure. She folded up the leaflet and put it in her back pocket.

When she got back, she went in through the back door and went up to the arcade upstairs. It was a Sunday, so they had closed the arcade. This meant that the Rockets were free to go wherever they wanted, even dressed in full uniform. The amusement arcade was one of their safest bases. A bunch of Grunts were lounging around, watching the television that was mounted on a wall bracket near the counter. There was a major Pokémon battle on TV.

Kantaris stood behind them, unnoticed. The battle was pretty fierce: it was between an Arcanine and a Dragonair. This caught her attention immediately: it took a special kind of trainer to be able to control a Dragon Pokémon. After a while, the Dragonair's trainer came into view. He wore a black cape and what looked like black and red armor, but the picture wasn't all that good, so Kantaris couldn't be sure. He was pacing back and forth at the end of the battlefield, but he didn't exactly look nervous. He looked thoughtful, if anything. When the camera angle changed, Kantaris got a better picture. He looked young, probably around twenty years old, with strawberry blonde spiky hair and dark eyes that almost seemed to be on fire. The camera angle switched again to record his Dragonair dealing a mighty Dragon Rage attack.

After watching silently as the opponent's Arcanine went down, Kantaris clapped and whistled.

"Who's _that?_" she asked, visibly impressed.

"Lance," one of her teammates replied, not sounding impressed at all. "Dragon Master. Elite Four."

"Wow," Kantaris whispered. "He seems pretty good."

"Duh! He's, like, the best Pokémon Master ever!"

"Yeah," another one said, "and even _you_ would have no chance with him, Kantaris."

_Ooh, I sense a challenge there. _Kantaris hid her smile and pretended to be surprised at the reply.

"In what context?" she asked innocently.

"In any context. He's the greatest there is. He's totally unbeatable. And most of all, he absolutely_ hates_ Team Rocket."

Kantaris pouted.

"So you think he's totally unbeatable?" she asked slyly, sitting down at one of the slot machines and spinning around on the stool slowly. "How much do you wanna bet...that he's not?"

They all turned and stared at her like she was insane. Finally, one of them said,

"Um, let's have a reality check, Kantaris. Lance wouldn't even make eye contact with you for long enough for you to challenge him. And if you did challenge him, he probably wouldn't accept."

"You can't deny a challenge!" Kantaris said automatically.

Unlike some of her teammates, Kantaris was much more educated when it came to Pokémon training. She knew all too well that if someone makes and holds eye contact with you, it means that they want to battle. If you don't want to battle, you have to blink and/or look away at once. But if anyone ever goes so far as to challenge you verbally, you can't turn down the challenge. It's just not done.

But her teammates didn't care. They shrugged.

"Lance would never look at you for either a battle or anything else. You'd have to be outstanding. And you'd have to have the badges to prove it."

"Fine, then!" This was the straw that broke the camel's back. Kantaris jumped down from the bar stool. "I'll take the Gym Challenge! That's where everyone else starts, isn't it?"

"Kantaris..." One of her teammates interrupted her, more sympathetically than nastily. "Honey, you're a Rocket Grunt. You've had hardly any education – "

"What's school got to do with this? You have to be streetwise to be a trainer, and you can't say that I'm not!"

"Oh, sure, you're streetwise. You should be. You were living on the streets for a few years."

"Exactly! I can take care of myself!"

"You have two Pokémon and no money. What are you gonna do?"

"I can catch more Pokémon! I'll battle for money, and before you know it I'll be well-off enough to travel all over Kanto as I please!" Kantaris walked up and down the aisles. "And what difference does it make if I'm a Rocket? Are Team Rocket members not trainers as well? Is there a rule that says that anyone who calls his or herself a Rocket cannot enter the Halls of the League? No, there isn't! It's open to anyone who's good enough! And if that kid can do it, I can do it! I'll catch loads of Pokémon, win loads of badges...and before you know it, I'll be right there on Indigo Plateau, taking that hotshot Dragon Master to pieces."

The Rockets laughed.

"In your dreams, Kantaris. If you ever made it to the Plateau, which you won't, Lance would wipe the floor with you and your Pokémon. Believe me."

"As I stand now, I wouldn't disagree with you. But I will _learn_. I will improve."

"Listen, everyone has their place in the world! You have a future in Team Rocket, you say so yourself!"

"I'm not disputing that. I'll always be a Rocket."

"You can't do both. The Pokémon League and Team Rocket are completely opposite and incompatible things. You can't have your cake and eat it."

Kantaris sighed and leaned on one of the slot machines. She gazed at the television screen. The battle had finished now. The two trainers were shaking hands. Lance gave his opponent a sporting smile and a pat on the back. The crowd was chanting his name as he left the battlefield, and kids were leaning over out of the stands just to touch his cape as he went past. He paused for a moment to shake a few hands, sign a few autographs...and then he was gone.

Kantaris was star-struck.

"Right," she said in determination. "You can all just sit here and carry on your level plain, believing that you were never destined to be anything more than backstreet vagabonds – "

"We're not vagabonds!" her teammates yelled. "The Boss would kill you if he heard you saying that."

" – but I, my friends, have a vision. I see – "

"The _Boss_ has a vision, and that's why we're all supposed to be working for him, remember? Have you completely forgotten your Team Rocket oath, Kantaris?"

"You can all stay here and let your lives pass you by if that's what you want, but just keep your eyes on that damn television screen because the next time you see the fabulous Master Lance, he'll be losing..." – Kantaris smiled dazzlingly at her unimpressed, skeptical teammates – "...to me."


	3. With The First Step

**DISCLAIMER:** I don't own Pokémon or any of its characters, place names, etc. The only character I own here is the lovely Samara Kantaris (or rather, she owns me...hehehe). Oh, and Sasha and Brianne (mentioned fleetingly in this chapter)...and Ivan (who makes his debut here).

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:** Ooooh I got two reviews! Thank you so much, guys! As soon as I read them I wanted to post the next chapter, but it was on my other computer so I couldn't, until today. I'll reply to the reviews here like most people do

Chibi Zumi: Thanks for your flattering review especially the advice about the battles...I took that into account when planning other chapters I'm glad you like the plot as well! The plot of The Kanto Journeys is pretty straight-forward, I think it gets better later on...hehehe but I'm not gonna give the game away.

NoZoMi aNd HoTaRu: Thanks a lot for your review! I'll definitely keep on with it

By the way, I updated the author's note in the Prologue, just letting you know where I'm going with this story (or series, I should say...hee hee). About this chapter: we get out first battle! And we get to see Kantaris' Pokémon! Yay!

* * *

That evening, at about 8:45, Kantaris was sitting on her bed in the small flat that she shared with Sasha and Brianne, two of her fellow Team Rocket members. Situated in a seedy area of downtown Celadon, it was definitely not a luxurious place to live. They'd been there for just over a year now, and yet there was still some stuff in the corner of the room not unpacked. It just sat there in boxes, gathering dust.

None of the three girls owned much anyway. By way of possessions, Kantaris only had a couple of drawers full of clothes (plus her two identical black Team Rocket uniforms) and a small backpack containing a pistol and an old medal from Pokémon Stadium, her most prized possession. She had only one coat and two pairs of shoes, one of which came with her Rocket uniforms. Her only items of jewelry were a fake designer watch that she'd stolen from a market and a grubby silver chain that she'd found somewhere. In her coat pockets she always carried a lighter and some cigarettes and, if she could afford it, bits of makeup. She also had a trainer's belt which held her two Pokémon.

At this moment in time, all of Kantaris' possessions were strewn over the bed, although when I say 'strewn', they didn't really take up that much room anyway. She was dusting off her clothes and shoving them into her bag. Brianne came in from the kitchen, wiping her hands on an old tea towel.

"I heard you chatting shit at the arcade today," she said

Kantaris said nothing.

"You're really going? Honestly? You're taking the Gym Challenge? You?"

"Yes. Me." Kantaris didn't look up. She pulled a brush through her long, black hair that always seemed to be out of control; she put her coat on.

Brianne made a noise that sounded halfway between a laugh and a grumble. Kantaris rolled her eyes. She couldn't call either of the girls she lived with her 'friends'. They hadn't supported her before, and they didn't support her now. Nobody did. Except maybe one person. But would he support her? Kantaris loaded her gun and put it in her coat pocket. Even though she was a Rocket, she still didn't feel quite safe walking the streets of Celadon after dark.

Kantaris stood up and picked up her bag. She put it over one shoulder and left with little more than a brief goodbye, heading towards the Game Corner.

The lights were still on when she got there, which meant that some of her teammates were still there. Kantaris lingered outside for a moment, looking at it. Then she went round the back. Once inside, she headed straight for the office. She knocked, dumped her bag outside the door and went in.

"You feeling any better, Boss?" she asked tentatively.

"Kantaris." Giovanni acknowledged her without looking up. Nobody else ever bothered to ask him how he felt, so he knew it must be her. "I suppose I am."

"I'm sorry we weren't much help today. If...if my group could have got there sooner, I might have been able to take out a couple of that kid's Pokémon and – "

"It wasn't your fault. You probably couldn't have done much." Giovanni put his pen down and sat back, gazing at Kantaris. "But we were close. So close. Ah, well. It's happened before, and no doubt it'll happen again."

He shook his head and shrugged heavily. Kantaris felt a fleeting twinge of both guilt and pity. Then she steeled herself.

"I need to ask a favour, actually," she said quietly.

"A favour?" Giovanni laughed a real laugh, not one of those insane criminal laughs; this was rare for him. "It must be something pretty important, if you're daring to ask at this time."

"Could you spare me for a while? I'm thinking of travelling."

"Really? Where are you planning to go? If you need a holiday, I could give you one easily. I could get you there as well, if needs be." He poured himself a whisky and offered one to Kantaris. She declined.

"Actually, Sir...it's not a holiday. I'm thinking of taking the Gym Challenge."

_He's either gonna love me or hate me for this._

"I see." Giovanni drank his whisky in one go. "You know, it's a long and hard road to take. It's harder than it looks. How often do you hear about a new Champion or a new Pokémon Master?"

"I..." Kantaris swallowed hard. "I'm afraid I'm not too good with current affairs, Sir."

"How often do you see me lose to Gym challengers, then?"

"Rarely."

"Do you know why?"

"Because...because you're good?"

"No, a lot of trainers don't make it, that's why. Every time you enter a Gym, there's always the risk you'll never be able to crack it. And then what? Eight gyms, Kantaris, and at each one, more trainers fall by the wayside."

Kantaris wanted to question his bitter tone of voice, but decided to leave it. He was probably just trying to discourage her.

"But," he continued, "if that is really what you want, I'm not really in a position to stop you. The only thing I could do would be to make sure that you didn't earn your Earthbadge, but by then you'd already be well on your way, I suppose."

"Thank you," Kantaris replied. "But you know, if you needed me round here, or anywhere else, I would do as you wanted. I'm not leaving Team Rocket."

"Now that is something that I could never let you do." He smiled briefly. It was a rather cold smile, but Kantaris liked it anyway and she smiled back.

The next day, Giovanni took a helicopter over to the Gym in Viridian City, as he often did. And this time, Kantaris went with him, as she often did as well. But this time, she would be starting her journey there. When she left Celadon City, nobody said goodbye to her and nobody waved her off. She felt pretty alone, as usual, but this time it didn't feel so bad.

Kantaris loved hanging out at the Gym in Viridian. Before she'd decided to take the Gym Challenge, the only wish she'd had that remotely resembled a dream had been to run the Gym with Giovanni someday. She'd learnt most of her stuff here, mainly from watching him battle other trainers, trainers who were following the same path she was about to embark on. Kantaris couldn't imagine being her Boss's actual opponent in that Gym. It was a pretty intimidating place, and she was sure she'd never be good enough to win. But then again, it would be a long time before she was setting her sights on an Earthbadge. If she wanted to succeed, she would have to take it one step at a time.

Before she set out, Giovanni thanked her for her loyalty to Team Rocket.

"I should be thanking you," Kantaris said. "You've taught me everything I know, and now I'm gonna use what you taught me. I'm aiming to take the League, you know."

"And there is no reason why you shouldn't. But..." He reached into his back pocket and took out a bundle of cash. "...you'll need money. This should last you for a while. And you'll need a map."

He gave her the money along with a crumpled map of Kanto.

"Remember," he said, "battle hard and if you lose, don't be too generous in how much money you give out. Build the strongest team possible, and don't scrimp on training. Look after yourself and be ruthless. That's the only way to the top."

Kantaris nodded.

"And Kantaris," he said, "never forget: you're a Rocket."

Kantaris smiled a wicked little smile and then leaned over and kissed Giovanni on the cheek.

"The next time I see you," she said, "might be right here, when I'm battling you for my Earthbadge."

"Hmph," he said. "Well, I won't be handing it to you on a silver platter."

Kantaris saw the sparkle of humour in his eyes and she laughed. Then she said thank you (again) and goodbye. She left the Gym and cut through the small forest onto the main road of Viridian City. This was her own little 'shortcut' to and from the Gym.

On her way out of Viridian City, she stopped at a Pokémon Mart on the street corner and bought a couple of Potions and six Pokéballs. Outside the Mart, she looked longingly down the road to the West, the one that that led up to the mountains and Indigo Plateau. It looked like a pretty harsh road. The thought that she'd be tough enough to take it someday filled Kantaris with both worry and excitement. But she shrugged.

_Rome wasn't built in a day. One step at a time._

She set off to the north with her bag on her back and the sun in her eyes.

Over an hour later, Kantaris was still walking, trying her best to explore all the grassy areas she could find. She carried a Pokéball expectantly in her hand. She'd never actually caught a Pokémon before, well, not in a legitimate way. Her parents had given her Stella (her Misdreavus) and Kantaris wasn't all too sure but she thought that she'd stolen Cyndaquil, or found him, whichever.

But the road was strangely quiet. It was a little chilly, so maybe that was why there were hardly any trainers on the road. Or maybe October was just a bad time to be starting a Pokémon journey, if there was ever a bad time for doing such a thing. Kantaris stopped for a moment and looked around, feeling pretty stupid. There were a couple of Pidgeys in a nearby bush, but they didn't attract Kantaris' attention all that much. She knew she'd probably resort to catching one at some point, but first she wanted to see if she could find any more interesting Pokémon. She sighed, and carried on her way.

The Gym Challenge was quickly losing its appeal.

"I must look like such an amateur," she muttered to break the silence.

And then, as chance would have it, she heard a rustling in the long grass by the side of the road. She gasped and with her free hand released Cyndaquil from its Pokéball. Cyndaquil came out and grunted in discontentment. Kantaris stood poised, waiting for whatever was in the grass to show its face. Cyndaquil walked around in circles on the spot before sitting down lazily. Kantaris resisted the urge to kick it.

After a few moments, a cute little Pokémon face emerged from the bushes and twitched its nose. A brown and white busy tail rose up behind its head.

"An Eevee!" Kantaris squealed. "Cyndaquil, Tackle attack!"

Cyndaquil stood up and yawned but ignored her order completely. Kantaris growled in frustration. Then a male voice made her jump.

"Go, Totodile! Tackle!"

A small blue crocodile (a Totodile, Kantaris presumed, seen as she hadn't seen one before) rushed forward like a blur and toppled the bewildered Eevee over just yards away from where Kantaris was standing. Before Kantaris had chance to react, the Totodile's trainer ran over, tossing a Pokéball as he ran. The Eevee was swept up into red energy and captured inside the Pokéball.

"Hey!" Kantaris yelled. "I saw it first!"

Her hand automatically went to her coat pocket and her fingers closed around her pistol. She forced herself to leave it where it was. That wasn't the way to play on the Gym Challenge.

The Pokéball wobbled, and Kantaris willed the Eevee to break free. But it didn't. She scowled as she turned to face the trainer angrily. He was about the same age as her, maybe a little younger, with short, dark hair that looked a little wavy at the sides, and striking blue eyes. He grinned a cheeky grin as he picked up the Pokéball, and Kantaris was not amused.

"Don't you just _hate_ it when that happens?" he said.

"Indeed."

"Hey, no hard feelings, honey." He laughed, extending his hand to shake. "Your Cyndaquil looks a little tired though. I'm Ivan, by the way."

"Cyndaquil's always like that. It doesn't like me," she replied, shaking his hand reluctantly. She hated the feeling of losing. "And I'm Samara Kantaris."

Kantaris was the name that she always went by, but out of habit she always gave her full name (well, her first name and surname) outside Team Rocket situations.

She deftly pressed the button on Cyndaquil's Pokéball, and the Pokémon returned to it. She gave the Pokéball a sharp rap with her knuckles, hoping that Cyndaquil could hear and/or feel it.

"Kantaris? That name sounds familiar." Ivan narrowed his eyes at her. "And I recognize you from somewhere..."

Kantaris twitched and turned her head slightly. As a Rocket, it unnerved her if anyone said that they recognized her. But Ivan didn't mention Team Rocket. Instead, he scratched his head and asked,

"Weren't you at Stadium last year? In the summer?"

"Pokémon Stadium? In Saffron? Maybe."

She was aware that she wasn't being very friendly, but why should she? The guy had practically stolen a wild Pokémon (an _Eevee!_) from right under her nose. Ugh, it was Cyndaquil's fault anyway for being a slowcoach who refused to listen to her...

"Yeah, that's right. Hey, you really _were_ there! You were that chick with the Misdreavus that had Thunder!" Ivan said. Come to think of it, he wasn't sounding too friendly either. "I was there as well. We battled in Round 5. Do you remember?"

"Uh, no," Kantaris replied.

She could only remember the trophy she'd won, and possibly a couple of the harder semi-finals and final battles that she'd lost out in whilst trying to win the other tournaments. She couldn't remember this guy, and that meant that he hadn't been much of a challenge. And now, she suddenly felt impatient to carry on her way. But what Ivan said next made her freeze.

"You're that Rocket girl, aren't you?" There was a hint of anger in his voice. "I gotta hand it to you, you thrashed me! I couldn't believe it when you won the Prime Cup tournament!"

"The Prime Cup was just my party piece! I won _lots_ of battles!" Kantaris bragged. "And I thrashed loads of trainers! How do you expect me to remember which one?"

"You thought you were so good. And you still do, I see! But you're just like any other Rocket – "

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Kantaris asked, rapidly losing her temper.

"It means you only won 'cos you had rental Pokémon. And you got lucky. See, that's the problem with you Team Rocket people, isn't it? You gang up on law-abiding trainers, thinking you're so tough. But once you're on your own, you're all pathetic as far as Pokémon training goes."

"That's what you think, is it?" She turned away and shifted her bag on her back, hinting that she was ready to walk off. "Well, it's been lovely meeting you again – even though I may as well have never seen you before 'cos sure as hell you don't register in my mind – but I'm in a bit of a rush. I have to go."

Ivan ran in front of her and held her by the shoulders, looking her straight in the eye.

"Hey, hey, not so fast!" He smiled a cruel little smile. "I haven't seen you for over a year, and now you're leaving so soon?"

"You're creeping me out," Kantaris said. "We battled. Once. And I beat you. Get over it."

"That tournament meant _everything_ to me! I wasn't good enough to battle for real outside the Stadium!" Ivan yelled, letting go of her but not breaking eye contact. "But instead, the whole tournament went to the person who deserved it least: you. I've been waiting ages to pay you back, and I'm not gonna pass up this opportunity. I'm ready for a rematch, Kantaris. Are you?"

"Ready for a rematch?" Kantaris put her bag down. "You should get ready for another ass-kicking, 'cos you just asked for one!"

"Fine," he said. "I'll use _my_ Eevee to start."

Kantaris gave him the dirtiest look she could muster, and she yanked the first Pokéball from the belt around her waist. With a cute little flick of her wrist, she threw it up into the air.

"Stella! It's time to meet an old friend..."

Ivan's eyes glazed over a little when he saw Stella again. She was the same Misdreavus that had sealed his fate at the Stadium a year ago. And she was probably the only Pokémon that Kantaris had actually owned out of the team she had used. Ivan wondered where Team Rocket scum like Kantaris could have gotten such a rare Pokémon. She'd stolen it, obviously. And that was probably why her Cyndaquil wouldn't listen to her. She was a disgrace to Pokémon training! There was no way he could let her win.

Kantaris caught the Pokéball as it came down. She looked at her Misdreavus proudly. Stella had to be the most gorgeous and unusual thing to ever come out of a Pokéball. She was eerily beautiful, with a ghostly necklace of pearls around her neck. Her hair was long and a creepy shade of blue, tinged with purple, and it streamed out behind her. She hovered a few feet above the ground, surrounded by a violet aura. She bore a strange resemblance to the ghost of a maiden, not that Kantaris had ever seen one. Kantaris wondered if all Misdreavuses were as pretty as Stella.

And Stella was strong and loyal.

"Let's start with a Confuse Ray!" Kantaris ordered, for want of a better word – she never 'ordered' Stella around. Stella just obeyed her. They were friends.

Kantaris shielded her eyes as Stella launched a glittering ray of light upon Eevee.

"Eevee, Quick Attack!" Ivan ordered.

Eevee shook its head, trying to shake off the effects of the Confuse Ray. Kantaris smiled in amusement as it regained its composure and launched an impressive Quick Attack...that passed straight through Stella without leaving so much as a mark. Stella giggled, and Kantaris erupted into fits of laughter.

"I remember you!" she said. "You were that idiot who...jeez, things haven't changed much, have they? _Normal _attacks don't affect _ghosts_, my dear!"

She felt sorry for the Eevee though, who was staggering around underneath where Stella was floating in the air.

Ivan racked his brain. What other attacks did Eevee have?

"Leer," he called out uncertainly.

But the Confuse Ray had definitely messed up Eevee's little head by now. Its eyes glowed, ready to perform a Leer attack, but then they flickered and went out, and the Pokémon fainted. Ivan recalled it with a grumble. In the air, Stella did a little flip of triumph, even though she had barely needed to do anything. Kantaris fought the urge to laugh. What person would send a newly-caught, already-weakened Pokémon into battle when none of its attacks would even work against the opponent? _The same kind of person who'd lose in Round 5 in a beginners' tournament._

"Go, Totodile! Water Gun!" Ivan nudged forward his Totodile, who was dancing around beside him.

Totodile sprayed Stella with a pathetic-looking stream of water. Stella shook it off, her pretty purple eyes flashing in annoyance.

"She didn't like that. Psywave, Stella!"

Only too happy to oblige, Stella let loose a wave of dark purple, green and blue that was only just visible. Totodile fell backwards as it passed over, but recovered quickly and got back on its feet. Ivan was about to call for a Tackle, but he faltered. It wouldn't work against Stella.

"Ugh, Thunder attack," Kantaris said, rolling her eyes. This was taking way too long. She should have just used Thunder in the first place and wiped that Totodile out.

Sparks of electricity flew through the air and struck Totodile full on. It collapsed without a sound.

"How the hell did I lose to a Rocket?" Ivan fumed. "And how can a Misdreavus have Thunder? You're a cheat!"

"Ever heard of TM moves?" Kantaris asked calmly, picking up her bag. She wasn't angry anymore. Her opponent wasn't worth her anger. "You should try and get hold of one at some point. You'll be amazed. Or try breeding Pokémon, if that's more your thing."

Ivan reached into his pocket and took out a note and a heap of change.

"It's all I have," he muttered. "Sorry."

"In that case, you'd better forget it," Kantaris replied. Giovanni would have gone mad at her for not taking the money, but she was feeling terribly gracious. "Just stay out of my way."

Kantaris beckoned Stella, who floated over to her. She turned around, about to hit the road again with Stella alongside her – it was getting dark, and she wanted the company.

"Stay out of your way?" Ivan re-called Totodile and followed a few steps behind. "You're on the Gym Challenge, right?"

"To end this issue once and for all, yes. Although I'm freaked out by your...intuition. Seen as I never told you I was on the Gym Challenge."

"I'm on the Gym Challenge too!"

"How nice for you." Kantaris exchanged glances with Stella, who was pretending to fall asleep.

(Yes, Stella shared her trainer's sarcastic sense of humour as well.)

Kantaris winked at Stella and they quickened their pace with no intention of turning round to talk again. Humiliated and annoyed, Ivan gave up following them.

"You can't avoid me, Kantaris!" he shouted. "We're rivals now!"

"Takes two to form a rivalry," she replied cattily, "and if I'm gonna have a rival, it won't be someone who's a few short of a dozen. It'll be someone on my level. But thanks anyway. Battle fodder is always valued."

Stella giggled, then turned around and pulled a face at Ivan. He didn't see it: he was already going back the other way. The _wrong_ way.

That night, Kantaris stopped at a random Pokémon Centre along the roadside. She chatted to Stella, mainly because there was no person there who seemed to want to talk.

"Jeez, how's about that for a first day? No new Pokémon, just some creepy guy who thinks he can call himself our rival."

Stella tugged her trainer's hair affectionately.

"Ah, we'll make it, Stell'..." Kantaris whispered, running her fingers over Stella's translucent hair. "He won't get in our way."


	4. New Recruits

**DISCLAIMER:** I don't own Pokémon or any of its characters, place names, etc. The only characters I own here are the lovely Samara Kantaris (or rather, she owns me...hehehe) and her 'rival' Ivan. I guess Stella's mine as well, you could say. None of the other characters are mine (although I heartily wish I owned Lance and Giovanni, but unfortunately I don't...)

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: **Omigosh, I'm so sorry this took so long! Actually I was supposed to put it online about a week ago, but I've been messing around with it so much and putting off posting it...anyway. If it sucks, it sucks. LOL.

Just for the record, the Rocket called Tyson in the next few chapters may or may not be the same one who was in a couple of the anime episodes. Whatever works for you. lol. I just couldn't be bothered coming up with a different name (oops). But I'll just say I don't own him anyway, just to be safe.

Lunar Sphinx, I'm so sorry I didn't reply to your review! That was just me being thick and not seeing it lol. Anyway thanks so much for your review, and I'll try my best with the battles. I'm sure it'll just take practice P if you have any other suggestions about battle commentary, please let me know

Thanks for another sweet review, Kazeto Tamashii! Yes, Ivan does get rather annoying...hehehe.

* * *

Kantaris woke up bright and early the next day. She was in a small bedroom at a Pokémon Centre somewhere between Viridian City and Pewter City. Sunlight streamed through the window above the bed, showing up the dust in the air. Kantaris stretched and got up, eager to be on her feet again. She felt bursting with energy, and that was a good thing too. Today she had to tackle Viridian Forest. It wasn't going to be easy, but at least she'd have the chance to catch a couple of Pokémon.

After breakfast, Kantaris got her stuff together and carried on the path towards the forest that stood between her and Pewter City. It didn't look as big or as dark as she'd been expecting, and she was relieved. She couldn't wait to get to Pewter City and battle for her first badge. But at the same time, she was nervous. She knew that if she rushed off to Pewter, crashed into the Gym and challenged the Leader...she would lose, as it stood. Like everyone else, Kantaris had heard about Brock and his high-defense Rock Pokémon. Cyndaquil would be useless. And Stella would be good defensively – she wasn't on the ground, so Ground attacks like Earthquake wouldn't work against her – but Kantaris couldn't imagine many of her attacks doing much damage. And surely a Gym Leader would have more than two Pokémon? If Kantaris was going to get anywhere, she had to catch something.

For someone who hadn't done it before, it was a daunting thought. Kantaris walked through the forest clutching a Pokéball in her hand, as she had done before, and gazing up into trees, occasionally tapping them, although she really had no idea what she'd do if a Beedrill flew out at her...except maybe panic and get Stella to knock it out. As she was walking, she passed small groups of trainers. Some were battling, others taking a rest in the tranquility of the forest. In any other situation, Kantaris would have thought about swiping some of their Pokémon. But at this point, she couldn't even consider it. She did, however, make off with a couple of Potions and empty Pokéballs from bags that people had left unattended. She figured it was their loss and their own fault for leaving their stuff around.

Kantaris was near the edge of the forest (and she had been walking as slowly as possible) when suddenly she heard something hit the ground behind her. She jumped. Then she turned around quickly to find herself staring down at a small Pineco that had fallen from a tree. Kantaris' mind jumped a few steps ahead: _Pineco evolves into Forretress, Forretress is a Steel hybrid Pokémon, Steel Pokémon are apparently really tough...and rare..._

Kantaris was in two minds about what to do. Should she attack and risk knocking it out? Or should she just throw a ball at it and hope for the best? She didn't have much time to think: the Pineco was rapidly hopping away. She cursed and threw the Pokéball that was in her hand. It hovered in the air, transforming the Pineco into a red stream of energy and capturing it before falling to the ground. Kantaris dived on it and it wobbled about like crazy in her hands for a few seconds. Then it stopped.

Kantaris waved the Pokéball above her head madly, disturbing the peace with:

"Hell, yeah! I did it! I caught a Pineco!"

She fixed the Pokéball to her belt proudly and carried on. But she still wasn't happy, of course, because a Pineco would do little (if any) good against Rock Pokémon. She wished she could make it evolve, right there and then. Levelling up was going to be a drag. _Now I remember why I didn't take the Gym Challenge before,_ she thought.

The forest grew rapidly thinner as she went on, until eventually Kantaris found herself in open countryside. Not far away, she could see the grey walls of Pewter City, and further beyond that, the mountains that stood above Cerulean City. Thinking about Cerulean made Kantaris think that she really fancied a Water Pokémon right now. But round here, there was no water in sight so, no Water Pokémon.

What she _did_ see next was an adorable group of Oddish, vaguely hidden in the grass. She decided to give her new Pokémon a go, so she let it out. All of the Oddish ran away except for one. Kantaris singled it out and thought quickly about Pineco's attacks. She had no idea where to start.

"Uh...Tackle?"

Pineco obeyed and carried out something that looked vaguely like a Tackle. Kantaris breathed a sigh of a relief. It was a start. Oddish responded with what was either an Absorb or a Leech Life attack. Whatever it was, it seemed to leave little damage on Pineco, but to Kantaris' shock, Pineco suddenly Self-Destructed, automatically returning to its Pokéball (Kantaris felt the sudden hit on her belt). She was shocked, to say the least, but still deep in concentration she took out a Pokéball and hurled it at the tired and battered-looking Oddish. It captured it with not much of a struggle.

Kantaris picked up the ball thoughtfully and put it on her waist. She was thinking that she wouldn't be getting anywhere if her Pineco decided to blow itself up every time it took a hit. No Pokémon seemed to want to listen to her much, except for Stella. She needed that Boulderbadge, and she needed it fast.

Kantaris' first stop in Pewter City was the Pokémon Centre. While she was there, waiting for her four Pokémon to be returned to her (_Four already? Not bad_), she noticed a shady guy sitting in the corner, staring at the floor. He was wearing all black, including black boots and a cap which was pulled down over his face. He even had a pair of shades in his hands. He couldn't really have made it more obvious – he was a Rocket, surely. Kantaris sidled over and sat next to him. He looked at her as if to say, 'What do you want?' but Kantaris ignored his glare and pulled back the sleeve of her coat on her right arm. On the back of her right wrist she had a letter 'R' branded into the skin.

It was a painful enough memory: not so long ago, she'd been caught raiding a Daycare Centre one night by about five agents from the Pokémon Defense League. They hadn't the right to formally arrest her, but after checking that she hadn't succeeded in taking anything, they'd taken her off to some secret base and interrogated her. Kantaris' first concern had been that they would try to make her talk about Team Rocket. So she'd insisted that she worked alone. But they hadn't believed her. And so they'd branded her, as they did to all suspected Rockets who fell into their clutches. At first, Kantaris had thought that this was even worse than being arrested, because now everyone would know that she was from Team Rocket. But the mark was reasonably easy to hide, and it had become something of a 'battle scar' now. And it didn't _prove_ anything. She could easily convince most people it was a 'miscarriage of justice'. The Pokémon Defense League were all bullies and hypocrites, anyway...

Anyway, Kantaris deftly flicked her wrist over. This movement caught the attention of the guy sitting next to her, and he looked up. Kantaris wondered what she would do if it turned out he wasn't a Rocket after all (_I really should think first, before doing these things_). But luckily, he was. She caught sight of the 'R' in the corner of his shirt. He leaned over subtly as if looking at a watch on her wrist and whispered,

"Respect."

Kantaris smiled, but she didn't look at him. She looked straight ahead so that it wouldn't look like they were talking.

"Where you from?" she whispered.

"Viridian," he whispered back.

"Really? Never seen you there."

"I might have seen you," he said. "Do you work at the Gym or something?"

"You've probably seen me. I'm part-time there."

Kantaris took a cigarette out of her bag and lit it. She turned away from everyone else and held it down by her side – Pokémon Centres were strictly No Smoking, and she wasn't in the mood for any hassle. She asked,

"So what you doing out here?"

"I'm on my way to Cerulean City," he replied. "Apparently some of our scientists are working on something there. I've been sent to get feedback from them."

"Really?" Kantaris said, raising her eyebrows. "What sort of 'something'?"

"Only the Boss knows that!" the Rocket said. "I'm just going to pick up some notes, or something like that."

Kantaris sighed and thought for a second. Whatever it was, it had to be super-secret if Giovanni hadn't even told _her _about it. Could the guy next to her be lying? Then again, she'd heard Giovanni on the phone an awful lot recently, talking about some project...but he was always mentioning Cinnabar Island, not Cerulean City. It wasn't as if she _listened in_ on his phone calls, of course. Kantaris shuddered. He would have killed her if he'd ever caught her doing that. However, she was still curious about what could be going on. But the solution, of course, was obvious.

"I'm on the way to Cerulean myself," she said. "I'd be glad of the company."

Just then, Nurse Joy called her name. Kantaris quickly dropped the cigarette, stamped on it and pushed it under the chair with her foot. Then she stood up and collected her Pokéballs.

"So it's Samara?" the Rocket guy asked, having overheard the Nurse calling her name. "I'm Tyson."

"Tyson, huh? You can call me Kantaris. Everyone else does. So...how's about it? I just gotta go to the Gym here and earn my badge, and then we can be off."

"Badge?" Tyson laughed. He raised his voice a little now that their conversation was innocent enough. "Are you on the Gym Challenge or something?"

"I am," Kantaris replied confidently, putting her Pokéballs on her belt. "So Cerulean City will be my next stop after here."

Tyson was silent for a while. Then finally he agreed.

"Makes sense, seen as we're going the same way," he said. "Will you be off to the Gym now, then?"

"Yeah..." Kantaris answered eventually. She wasn't all too sure that she would win, though.

"Eight o'clock tonight, then? Back here? And then we'll set off?" Tyson looked at Kantaris' dubious expression. "I'm kind of in a rush. Sooner I'm there, sooner I'm back."

"I didn't really wanna travel at night," Kantaris admitted staunchly.

Tyson lowered his voice to a whisper again.

"Aww, come on, I hear Mount Moon is nice at night..." He paused and winked. Then he turned serious. "Besides, who's gonna mess with two Rockets? I bet you're armed to the teeth. Not that you need to be, seen as your Pokémon are probably strong enough."

"Okay, okay, you're on." The tirade of flattery had vanquished any doubt she'd had. "Eight. Right here?"

"Right here."

Kantaris turned heel and made for the door. Tyson called her name and she glanced round to see him holding up two fingers, crossed. She shook her head, her blue eyes sparkling enthusiastically.

"It ain't luck, mate!" she said. "It's skill!"

When she got to the Gym nearby, Kantaris pushed open the doors gingerly, not knowing quite what to expect. She'd only been in one Gym during the course of her whole life, and that was the big, dark Viridian City Gym with its bare stone floor and walls, where the only light came from the balcony upstairs and where it seemed to be permanently cold on the battlefield. She found Pewter City Gym to be quite different.

As soon as Kantaris entered the building, she found herself in what looked like a passageway of rocks – she couldn't tell whether they were artificial or not but they felt real to the touch. There was a tall bronze plaque on the left wall with the names of winning trainers engraved on it. There were too many names to count and they had been written in tiny, illegible writing. The plaque was entirely full now, so Kantaris guessed that they didn't bother using it anymore. She looked ahead – the tunnel was well lit by torches set into the walls, and at the end it opened out onto a large, sandy space. Kantaris could vaguely see the Pokéball chalked onto the floor in the centre of the space, so she presumed it was the battlefield.

Kantaris did a mental check, trying to decide which Pokémon she should start with and which attacks she should lead with. Already, she was beginning to see why it was common for a lot of trainers to quit partway through the Gym Challenge. But she wasn't at all discouraged. After all, que sera, sera (What will be will be) – it was worth a try, and if she lost she would just try harder next time. And she wouldn't tell Giovanni or any of her teammates.

Kantaris wandered out onto the battlefield and she first gazed up at the amazingly high, domed ceiling. Then she sneezed involuntarily as clouds of dust rose from the ground every time she took a step.

"Welcome to Pewter City Gym," a male voice said from the other end of the battlefield.

Slowly and warily, Kantaris looked up to face the Gym Leader. She was hesitant to look straight at him – after all, locking eyes with a trainer counted as a challenge and she wanted a little time to prepare. The Gym Leader seemed to notice this and he explained (a little patronizingly, but probably not in an unfriendly way),

"In a Pokémon Gym, the battle doesn't start until you make a verbal challenge. That's why you're called 'the challenger'."

Kantaris automatically smiled as the Gym Leader stated the obvious in his last sentence. He seemed okay, and with renewed confidence, Kantaris looked up properly. She was surprised to find that he didn't look much older than her. He was tall and of medium build. He had black spiky hair and dark skin, but Kantaris could tell from his features that he was probably not much older than she was. He also had only three Pokéballs at his waist, one less than Kantaris. All of this gave her even more confidence.

"Maybe you should introduce yourself first," the Gym Leader suggested after she had been silent for a few seconds. "That's the usual custom."

"Oh, sure!" Despite her apparent confidence, Kantaris still sounded a little nervous when she spoke. She cleared her throat. "I'm Samara Joanna Kantaris...from Saffron City."

So you're a new trainer, Ms. Kantaris?" the Gym Leader asked.

"No," Kantaris replied (more haughtily than she had intended). "Just new to the Gym Challenge."

"I see. In that case, I'm obliged to explain the rules. In a League Gym, you may battle with all the Pokémon you have with you and you may use any items on your Pokémon whenever you wish. And the same goes for me. There's a League official in the next room, so if there are any problems or you have any complaints, you can go and see him if you like. Now all that remains is for me to introduce myself. I'm Brock, the Pewter City Gym Leader. I'm relatively new to the Gym scene as well: I took over this Gym from my father not so long ago."

Kantaris nodded slowly. She'd never been any good at talking to other people about their lives and experiences. So instead, she said,

"Okay, Brock. I'd like to challenge you for..." She struggled to recall the name of the badge she was battling for; she blushed. Then she remembered. "A Boulderbadge. That's it."

"I accept your challenge."

Brock took his place at the opposite edge of the battlefield. Kantaris let her bag slip down off her back onto the floor behind her. She stood poised, one leg behind the other, with her left hand clenched in a fist at her waist and her right hand hovering over her belt. She contemplating letting Brock know which Pokémon she was going to use first – this is common courtesy when a trainer has more Pokémon than his or her opponent – but to her surprise, Brock didn't wait for her to do so. He threw in his first Pokéball. Kantaris shrugged it off – that was obviously the way it went in Pokémon Gyms. She'd seen it happening in Viridian Gym all the time, but she'd always put it down to Giovanni's selfishness.

The Pokéball on the battlefield fell open on its own and its Pokémon appeared next to it. A Geodude. Kantaris ran her hand over the Pokéballs on her waist and went for the last one, Oddish. Brock's Geodude looked like it was more honed than Oddish, but Kantaris always tried to concentrate on type match-ups. It was the simplest strategy. _Can't go wrong if you know your type match-ups._

For a moment, Kantaris wondered if Brock was going to attack first. But then she remembered she was the one battling for a badge, therefore she had to take every opportunity presented to her. She had to be as ruthless a challenger as she was a Rocket. That's what Giovanni had told her, anyway.

"Absorb attack, Oddish!" she commanded.

"Defense Curl!" Brock called out a second later.

A green orb of light began to surround Geodude, but the Absorb attack was weakened as Geodude went into its Defense Curl.

"Tackle!" Brock said next.

"Dodge it, Oddish!" Kantaris said quickly, trying hard to think of another attack that Oddish might have.

Oddish clumsily leapt out of the way just in time. Geodude rolled over on the battlefield having missed its target, and then set itself up for the next attack.

"Try another Absorb!" Kantaris said desperately. She wished she had a handbook or something: her knowledge of attacks wasn't very good.

"Defense Curl, followed by Tackle!" Brock ordered.

This seemed highly unconventional to Kantaris. She was used to taking it in turns, one attack at a time, mainly leaving it up to the Pokémon to dodge attacks without being told when or how. But in this battle so far (even though it had only been going for a few minutes), she had learnt several things: attacks can be combined, attacks can counteract others, and timing is essential.

Kantaris' mind was racing, and she didn't notice the rapid Tackle coming until it hit Oddish. Oddish flew backwards a reasonable distance and lay still for a moment. Kantaris bit her lip. Luckily, Oddish got up.

"Poison Powder!" Kantaris said. Anything was worth a try.

Oddish leant forward and shook the small leaves on its head, and a purple cloud of dust shot forward and clung to Geodude, who started rolling around trying to shake it off. But it stuck fast. Kantaris held her hands behind her back and clapped silently: she'd managed to do something right, at least.

"Mud Slap, Geodude!"

Geodude threw forward a clump of earth and sand from the floor. It went all over Oddish, who fell backwards again. It got up, shaking the sand from its eyes.

"Razor Leaf!" Kantaris cried, her confidence and adrenaline building.

Still dizzy from the Mud Slap, Oddish launched forth a shower of poorly aimed leaves. Most of them flew up into the air harmlessly and floated to the ground. Only a few actually hit the opponent, but it seemed to have worked a little anyway. Geodude was looking dangerously weak, still covered in the toxic purple powder.

"Tackle!" Brock ordered.

"Jump, Oddish!" Kantaris felt like she was controlling a character in a games arcade. "Now, Absorb!"

This time, the green light around Geodude was stronger. It transferred itself to Oddish, who landed just as Geodude fainted. Brock called his fainted Pokémon back to its Pokéball, and Oddish began doing a 'victory dance'. Kantaris couldn't help but think that it looked kind of cute, dancing on its tiny legs and shaking its leaves.

"Zubat, go!" Brock yelled, throwing in his second Pokéball.

Kantaris took Oddish's Pokéball in her hand, automatically thinking about swapping Oddish for a different Pokémon. Oddish was weak by now, and at a disadvantage in terms of type. Kantaris didn't have much time to think, because Zubat dived down and flew forwards in a deadly looking Tackle attack. It was impossible for Oddish to avoid the attack, and shortly after being hit, it collapsed.

Kantaris called Oddish back and took a moment to calm down a little. She'd never realized battles could be this intense. She tapped Stella's Pokéball with the nail of her right index finger. Before Stella had even emerged properly, her haunting screech could be heard echoing throughout the battlefield. Zubat, hovering in the air, seemed to flinch. Kantaris was used to Stella's piercing shrieks by now, but most other people and Pokémon weren't. After all, Misdreavuses weren't all that common...

"Thunder!" Kantaris said, seizing her chance.

With another screech, Stella's eyes glowed; a field of electricity swelled around her and erupted, sending sparks in all directions. Most of them hit Zubat and Kantaris was pleased to see that Stella's accuracy was certainly in form. Zubat's height above the battlefield decreased considerably, but it still managed to stay in the air. Kantaris shrugged minutely. Having a Misdreavus that knew Thunder was impressive, but the attack could never be as powerful as it would be coming from a pure Electric Pokémon. Kantaris just liked to surprise her opponents with that attack.

"Bite!" Brock ordered.

His command took Kantaris by surprise. She had presumed that a Zubat wouldn't have any attacks that could do any damage to a Ghost Pokémon. On the contrary, Bite was a Dark attack. Kantaris couldn't be sure, but weren't Dark attacks supposed to be very effective against Ghosts...? Oops.

Stella had obviously been complacent herself, so much so that she didn't bother to dodge Zubat's attack. She disappeared for a second, as she often did after being hit by a powerful attack. Kantaris held her breath until Stella reappeared in the air again, looking especially mean.

"Supersonic!" Brock called out.

"Hypnosis!" Kantaris yelled, almost at the same time.

Both trainers squinted and covered their ears as the Pokémon generated their attacks simultaneously. There was a thud as Zubat hit the battlefield, and Kantaris silently praised Stella for her accuracy and probable level advantage, it seemed. Brock shook his head and returned Zubat to its Pokéball.

"My final Pokémon..." he said, taking his last Pokéball. "Onix!"

Kantaris paled as a huge Onix appeared on the battlefield. She had never cared for massive Pokémon. She had always avoided them, and she was sure that she had a medical phobia of Steelix. And now she was faced with an Onix. She shuddered.

"Shadow Ball!" Kantaris commanded smartly. Her confidence was shrinking, but she refused to show it.

Stella threw forth a black and purple orb of energy that hit Onix full on. The gigantic rock snake groaned as it fell backwards, shaking the whole room as it hit the field. Then it rose to its full height again and roared at Stella furiously. Kantaris' face was a picture, but Stella simply snarled at her opponent.

"Rock Throw, Onix!"

Onix raised rocks out of nowhere and projected them at Stella with its tail. Kantaris ordered Stella to dodge and Stella skillfully disappeared and reappeared, evading most of the rocks. But the last rock came down on her. Kantaris didn't see how this would do much damage to a Ghost, but Stella plunged to the ground. Kantaris sighed in disgust and was about to call her back. But to her relief, Stella floated back up again. She was fading slightly, becoming transparent.

"Finish it off with another Rock Throw," Brock ordered.

_Timing_, Kantaris remembered. It was time to live what she'd just learned.

"Destiny Bond..." she whispered as Onix lined up its attack.

Wavering in the air, Stella closed her eyes and a pale blue aura formed around both her and Onix. Brock drew in a sharp breath, but it was too late. Onix had already launched its Rock Throw, and Stella had resigned to her fate. Kantaris averted her eyes as Stella was hit once, twice...and then dissipated into nothingness. Kantaris felt the hit and then the brief warmth of the Pokéball on her belt, just as she had done when her Pineco had blown itself up earlier on.

Onix obviously hadn't realised it was under a Destiny Bond, but now its strength slowly faded along with the blue aura surrounding it. It uttered a single cry of surprise and collapsed. Kantaris hated Destiny Bond, but she had to admit that it was impressive watching an opponent faint, just like that.

"Okay," Brock said calmly, taking back his Onix into its Pokéball. "You win."

Kantars blinked in surprise. Didn't Brock realise that his Zubat wasn't fainted yet? Part of her said that she should take the badge and run, but this didn't seem fair. And maybe this was a test of her observance.

"Your Zubat..." she began.

"...is unable to battle." Brock casually finished her sentence for her. "I declare you the winner."

"You're forfeiting?" Kantaris asked gleefully. She'd never had anyone surrender to her in a battle before.

"I've seen enough of your battling skills, Ms. Kantaris," Brock replied, dusting off his hands and walking to a metal safe that was set into a niche in the wall, "to decide that you're worthy of a Boulderbadge."

He opened the safe and Kantaris stood on tiptoes, squinting to try and see what he was doing. She saw what looked like a black roll of fabric with shiny things on it. Brock took one of the shiny things. He crossed the battlefield and immediately noticed Kantaris' expression, still dubious.

"Of course," Brock said, "if you don't think you're ready for this badge yet...?"

Kantaris glanced at the badge that he was offering. It wasn't very fancy. It was brown and gray, roughly hexagonal in shape, and it shone in the light from the torches. Kantaris reached out and took it gingerly. She'd never seen a real League badge before, only a few cheap laminated cardboard fakes that Team Rocket members had made for themselves. At that moment in time, that little pin badge meant everything to her. She fastened it onto the right breast pocket of her coat proudly.

Brock smiled at her and she smiled back, thinking that he was very approachable, considering the fact that he was a Gym Leader. He congratulated Kantaris on her win then reached out to shake her hand. Kantaris took it and shook hands, feeling a little confused and out of place. She had never seen Giovanni congratulate a challenger (not that he lost often) or shake a challenger's hand. In fact, he even sent her down to give them the badge, usually. Brock was something quite different, and Kantaris began to think that this whole Gym Challenge thing wouldn't be so scary after all. And she had certainly learnt a lot, even from that one battle.

"Thanks," she mumbled.

"No problem. Oh, I almost forgot..."

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small bundle of money in a little plastic bag. This time, Kantaris had to question it.

"Is it common practice to give prize money as well as a badge?"

"Sure. Well, I always do it." Brock shrugged. "And if it isn't common practice, it should be! How's a trainer supposed to get anywhere without a little cash behind them?"

"I won't disagree," Kantaris said smoothly, wiping her brow with the back of her hand.

"Would you like a TM as well?" Brock asked. "I don't suppose I need to explain what a TM is...?"

Kantaris stared incredulously. Jeez, the guy was giving out _gifts_ now? She blushed.

"No, thanks..." she replied. "But thanks for the offer. You're…very generous."

She smiled awkwardly and Brock returned her smile, looking more than a little amused. He waved her off and Kantaris picked up her stuff and left the Gym in a hurry.

Tyson was standing outside the Gym, both hands in his pockets. He was wearing a waistcoat to hide the Team Rocket emblem on his shirt, and he was carrying his cap underneath his right arm. Kantaris barely recognized him, but he recognized her and smiled brightly. He looked at the badge on her coat and whistled in admiration.

"Respect!" he said again. "It went well, I presume?"

Kantaris laughed. "It was...surreal."

"Surreal, huh?" Tyson asked, putting his cap back on. "Wait until you see Mount Moon. Now_ that's_ surreal for you!"

Kantaris wasn't sure what he meant, but she nodded anyway.


	5. The Dancing Clefairy

**DISCLAIMER:** I don't own Pokémon or any of its characters, place names, etc. The only characters I own here are the lovely Samara Kantaris (or rather, she owns me...hehehe) and her 'rival' Ivan. I guess Stella's mine as well, you could say. None of the other characters are mine (although I heartily wish I owned Lance and Giovanni, but unfortunately I don't...)

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:** My summary of this chapter in the chapter plan I wrote makes it sound all interesting...lol...let's hope it's lived up to its summary.

I'll reply to any new reviews when I post the next chapter (and it shouldn't take too long, hopefully). Methinks I'll have some explaining to do as well hee hee. Enjoy!

* * *

It wasn't eight o'clock yet, so after getting something to eat and healing her Pokémon at the Pokémon Centre, Kantaris persuaded Tyson to kill time with her by wandering around Pewter City idly. She would never class herself as a tourist or a person who appreciated culture and sightseeing, but she also figured that, seen as she was travelling, she might as well explore each place. After all, you never knew what you might find out. And she would probably not get the chance to travel again at her own will once her Gym Challenge journey was over. Of course, that wouldn't be for a long time yet.

It was common for trainers to expect to be gone for only a few weeks while on the Gym Challenge. But almost as soon as a trainer actually set out, he or she realised how different it would truly be. The Gym Challenge meant touring the country, either on foot or bike (unless one of your Pokémon knew how to fly). Kantaris was beginning to understand that she probably wouldn't be back for a few months, at least.

Anyway, Pewter City looked like an interesting, historical place to live. It was obviously quite old. But there was nothing much there to catch Kantaris' attention. She wanted to be on her way. So she and Tyson set off an hour early on the road that led east. It wasn't an easy road: it was winding and quite steep, and Kantaris was surprised at how many trainers were battling on the road and on the surrounding slopes. She looked around eagerly, pushing for a battle with somebody. Most of the trainers, however, were either engaged in their own battles or were looking elsewhere, obviously unwilling to fight.

It took two days for Tyson and Kantaris to reach the edge of the mountain range, travelling as far as possible by day, camping by night, and by the evening of the second day, Kantaris was considering ambushing the next trainer who avoided eye contact. She was itching for a battle and Tyson, watching her out of the corner of his eye, seemed to notice.

"If you really want to battle," he said once they'd reached the top of the hill, "I'll take you on."

Kantaris narrowed her eyes dangerously and their gazes met.

"You sure?"

"If you want..." Tyson said casually, evidently not as bothered as Kantaris was.

Kantaris nodded stiffly and the two trainers paced in opposite directions. They turned to face each other. Tyson only had one Pokémon, and Kantaris was a little disappointed. She'd been hoping for an evenly matched, gruelling battle in which she could prove her skill and show off a little. But experience was experience.

Tyson took out his first Pokéball and held it at arm's length.

"Fearow, go!" he called.

A majestic Fearow appeared, perched on the 'battlefield' between them. It crowed loudly and scratched the ground with its talons, eager to take flight. Kantaris frowned thoughtfully.

"Cyndaquil!" she called, pressing the button on Cyndaquil's Pokéball. She wanted to see if owning a Gym badge really did make Pokémon listen to you. "Quick Attack!"

"Take flight, Fearow," Tyson said. And Fearow did so.

Cyndaquil carried out Kantaris' order, but missed hitting Fearow by a few inches. It landed squarely and regained its balance.

"Ember!" Kantaris commanded.

The red spots on Cyndaquil's back flared up as it readied a fire attack. A split-second later, a small fireball shot from its mouth and into the air. It caught Fearow on its right wing, and the bird fell to the ground. It landed on its feet, but wobbled around on the field, trying to take off again with its left wing in the air and its injured right wing trailing on the floor.

"I think it's burned," Kantaris said.

"Peck attack!"

"Dodge it and do a Quick Attack!"

Fearow's eyes seemed to glow as it looked at the tiny Cyndaquil before it. It staggered forward to attack, but Cyndaquil was too nimble and quick. It jumped into the air, avoiding Fearow's beak, and delivered a respectable Quick Attack to the back of the head. Fearow toppled over and squawked, trying to get back on its feet using its good wing. Kantaris wasn't sure that she should attack it when it was down, but...

"Finish it with a Flamethrower!"

The fire on Cyndaquil's back grew even more, and it blew out a stream of fire. Tyson re-called Fearow before the fire could hit it.

"You win!" he said, throwing up his hands in surrender. "Are you wanting money?"

Kantaris glared at him for a second, annoyed that he wasn't bothered about having lost. But she shook her head and declined the money. (That was the second time she had done it! What would Giovanni say if he knew she was turning down rightful cash rewards? Goodness knows.)

"We'd better get to a Pokémon Centre," Kantaris said.

Tyson agreed, and they carried on their way. After about ten minutes of walking, they came to a tall cliff that rose in front of them. It would have been a dead end if it weren't for the tunnel set into the cliff face. And next to the tunnel entrance was a rustic Pokémon Centre, made entirely of logs. Kantaris and Tyson stopped there just to get their Pokémon healed. Then they set off into the tunnel even though it was dark and cold by now and Kantaris would have preferred to stay the night at the Centre. She suggested this to Tyson, making the excuse that she was tired, but Tyson said,

"Don't worry. We'll camp out in Mount Moon like most people do."

Kantaris was alarmed at the prospect of sleeping in a tunnel: she wasn't a coward, and she was more than used to roughing it at night, but...sleeping on the floor in an underground tunnel? Ugh.

But once inside Mount Moon, Kantaris didn't feel so worried. There were lights along the ceiling, and the tunnel wasn't constricted. Echoes could be heard of trainers talking and laughing further down the tunnel, and people seemed to be coming and going all the time. Best of all, Kantaris soon forgot that it was late, because inside the tunnel it didn't matter what time of day it was.

The tunnel gradually widened even more until eventually Kantaris and Tyson found themselves standing on a ledge above a large chamber. There were some steps leading down to the floor of the cave, and Kantaris followed Tyson down. The ground on the bottom wasn't muddy. It was covered with thick, soft sand that gave way a little when stepped on. It was like an underground beach, Kantaris thought.

Tyson took his coat off and threw it down next to a cluster of rocks. Kantaris did the same with her bag. Then she began scouting for other trainers again. Tyson sat down on his coat and said,

"Hey, I thought you were tired."

Kantaris laughed and dismissed his remark with a disdainful wave of her hand. She took her coat off and dumped it over her bag before running off to find...whatever she could find. New Pokémon, trainers to battle...anything would do when she was feeling this adventurous.

Over an hour later, when all of her Pokémon except Cyndaquil were too exhausted to battle anymore, Kantaris returned to where she had left her stuff. Tyson was asleep, his cap pulled down over his face to block out the light from the torches that lit up the cave brightly. Kantaris was, by now, too tired to bother doing anything else, so she sat down on the soft, warm sand. She put her bag against a rock and used it as a pillow, then pulled her coat over herself as a blanket. It didn't feel so bad.

She was awoken after what seemed like only a few minutes. Tyson was whispering her name and shaking her gently.

"What?" Kantaris sat up and rubbed her eyes.

The cave had been noisy before, but now it was silent. The lights had been dimmed. Kantaris looked around and she could vaguely see figures stretched out on the ground and curled up next to rocks: everyone was asleep.

"What time is it?" she asked.

"Two," Tyson replied. "But you gotta see this!"

He helped her to her feet and motioned to her to be quiet. He led her to the opposite side of the chamber then down some stairs and round a corner to a ledge. He pointed over the side and Kantaris leant over carefully. There was another small chamber directly underneath the ledge, but it wasn't lit up at all. Or at least, it wasn't lit up by wired lights. But there was a strange silver glow coming from a large, black stone that lay in the centre of the chamber. This would have been enough to make anyone gasp, but there was something more beautiful.

Dancing around the stone were several small Clefairies. They were skipping around the stone, singing and whistling. It looked like some sort of ritual dance. Kantaris watched, speechless. Then suddenly, the Clefairies stopped dancing. They turned and stared at one of their group: it was glowing white and slowly changing shape. The rest of the Clefairies looked as entranced and mesmerized as Kantaris herself was. When the glow faded, standing in the place of the Clefairy was...

"A Clefable!" Kantaris hissed.

She had no Pokéballs with her, but this didn't stop her. She dived forward excitedly before Tyson had chance to react. The Clefairies all ran off. Kantaris snatched at the Clefable's wings as it scurried off after them. She missed it by about an inch. She stood up and stomped her foot childishly.

"Damn!" she said.

She looked up to find Tyson leaning against the wall, laughing and clutching his sides.

"You're a scream, Kantaris," he said.

Kantaris grunted in reply. As a consolation prize, she bent down and picked up a small piece of the black rock that was on the floor. She climbed back up onto the ledge and waved it around in Tyson's face.

"She who dares wins!" she exclaimed, throwing the stone up and catching it. She examined it. "What is it, though?"

"Just a rock..." Tyson replied with a shrug as they went back to where they were 'camped'. Then a smile spread across his face. "Only joking. Don't you know what it is? It's a Moonstone!"

"A Moonstone?" Kantaris hated to sound this stupid.

"Yeah. It evolves certain kinds of Pokémon."

"Like Clefairy?" she asked, full of curiosity.

"Yeah, exactly," Tyson replied, smothering a laugh as he remembered how Kantaris had thrown herself at that Clefable without even so much as a net.

The two Rockets went back to sleep and didn't get up again until they were feeling wide-awake and raring to go. Kantaris was glad of the rest: she knew she'd be busy once they arrived in Cerulean. Her first order of business would be to tail Tyson and get into the laboratory, somehow. She would just take a peek at what Team Rocket's scientists were up to...just so that she'd know. When that was completed and her curiosity was satiated, she would go and challenge the Gym Leader for her next badge.

When they were both awake, Tyson and Kantaris crossed the large chamber and climbed the stairs to the exit on the other side. They stopped at a small restaurant to get something to eat before going outside for Tyson to 'get his bearings'. They were standing on a hill, overlooking Cerulean City. It was a beautiful place, surrounded by lakes. Tyson nodded.

"This must be Cerulean Cape," he said with a cheeky smile. "It's a popular 'night spot', so I hear."

Kantaris rolled her eyes.

The path down to Cerulean City from Mount Moon seemed a lot smoother than the path up to Mount Moon from Pewter City had been. Kantaris was relieved. Now her only concern was keeping an eye on Tyson, who seemed to be drifting ahead. She was afraid that he would find out soon enough that she was intending to follow him to the lab. In fact, she was surprised he hadn't said anything yet. Maybe he didn't mind.

"Hey, you! Kantaris!" someone yelled from up the road.

Startled, Kantaris stopped walking and turned round. She glanced at Tyson and was pleased to see that he had stopped walking as well. But the sight of Ivan walking down the hill towards her _didn't_ please her.

Ivan punched Kantaris on the shoulder lightly, and she scowled in reply.

"What do you want now?" she asked. "Come on, I'm in a hurry."

She glanced at Tyson again, terrified he was going to run off. Sure enough, he was backing down the hill slowly. The expression on his face was unfathomable, as if he were caught between deciding whether to stay or go. Kantaris opened her mouth to say something.

"I'll meet you at the bottom of the hill, okay?" Tyson called, his voice full of uncertainty. "Call me if you need any help."

And before Kantaris could say anything but a brief 'no', Tyson jogged off down the slope. Kantaris was about to follow him straight away, but Ivan took hold of her coat sleeve.

"So you got your first badge after all?" he asked, glancing at the badge on her pocket. "I'm surprised."

"Why? Where's yours?" Not that she particularly cared.

"Just 'cos I don't flaunt it, doesn't mean I don't have it," Ivan said apprehensively, shrinking back a little.

Kantaris didn't believe that he had even earned a Boulderbadge, of course, but she didn't have the time to stand around questioning it. She yanked her arm free so harshly that her fist caught Ivan on the chin. But she didn't care. She started walking off down the hill briskly, trying to catch up with Tyson. As before, Ivan followed her at a safe distance.

"I guess you'll be going to Cerulean City Gym now?"

"Later!" Kantaris snapped, totally preoccupied with finding her companion.

"Okay. Come and find me when you do. I went round the other night and the Gym Leader wasn't there."

Kantaris shook her head vehemently and said nothing. This guy was turning out to be a real pest. Wow, she hadn't been on the Gym Challenge for a full week yet and she'd already found a pest. Lovely.

"I'm going back this afternoon," Ivan continued, backing off even more now that Kantaris seemed to be ignoring him totally. "Might see you there."

"I bloody hope not!" Kantaris yelled, quickening her pace.

After about five minutes of continuous running, Kantaris reached the bottom of the slope. She was standing before a busy road leading into what looked like the town centre. She looked around frantically, thinking that Tyson must be miles away by now. Growling in anger, she crossed the road and pushed through the crowds blindly with no idea where she was actually going. She stopped a few people and demanded to know where she could find a research laboratory of some sort, but they all looked at her as if she were mad.

Kantaris slowed down and eventually stopped searching altogether. She stood on the pavement, looking around hopelessly at the endless throngs of people. There wasn't a familiar face in sight, and by now she had completely lost her way. She had to accept that she had lost Tyson as well.

In actual fact, Tyson was closer than Kantaris could imagine. He had ducked into an alleyway off the main road and was watching carefully from behind a lamppost. He had even seen Kantaris pause right outside the alleyway, catch her breath and wander off again.

Tyson waited for a few moments before emerging from the shadows. He caught a glimpse of Kantaris, still pressing on up the street, and for a moment he considered running after her and apologizing for leaving her behind. But no, he couldn't do that. He had to have courage in his convictions. And as much as he liked Kantaris – and he had started to like her considerably after their first brief conversation – it was blindingly obvious why she had come to Cerulean City with him. Tyson wasn't sure whether he should believe that Kantaris truly was on the Gym Challenge, but either way, she had been pushing for information about Team Rocket's scientific project practically nonstop in all the time they had spent together (a measly three days). In fact, if Tyson hadn't lost her then and there, he probably would have ended up saying something by mistake. He wasn't good at pretending to be ignorant, which wasn't so good considering he was a Rocket.

Tyson wandered out of the alleyway, pulled his cap over his head and headed in the opposite direction to that which Kantaris had taken. He convinced himself that she had always been beyond his reach anyway. Was Kantaris even her real name? He couldn't be sure. And wasn't she the Rocket who turned up on the Boss's arm at Viridian City every few days? Tyson remembered thinking, at one point, that she might have been the Boss's daughter. But just yesterday he had asked Kantaris if this was so, to which she had replied in astonishment,

"Am I _what?_ His _daughter?_ _Hell_, no!"

And she had spent the next five minutes laughing and shaking her head in amusement.

"You seem so close, that's all," Tyson had commented, shrugging as if it didn't matter to him.

"Really? Hmm." That was all Kantaris had said in reply, amidst her laughter.

Tyson began to speculate at this point. If she wasn't the Boss's daughter, then why would she seem so...? He came to the conclusion he should leave Kantaris well alone, just in case. He wasn't so stupid that he didn't know when to give up. If she was the Boss's girl, it would be a death wish to start chasing after her.

And as for the scientific project, Kantaris had probably known about it all along. She was probably just trying him out. And if not, she would find out about it, soon enough. The whole _world_ would find out about it, soon enough...

The weary Kantaris carried on until she came to a travel lodge. She took out a cheap room for three nights, and once in the room, she threw down her bag and sat down on the bed. Her back and legs ached from running and sleeping outside, and she was exhausted. She was also feeling more than a little grumpy: annoyed with Tyson for running off, and furious at Ivan for his bad timing. Kantaris looked in the mirror above the dresser. Her makeup was smudged, leaving thick black swirls of eyeliner underneath her eyes. She looked like she'd been dragged through a hedge backwards after having a bucket of water dumped on her head. She pulled a brush through her hair, wincing at the amount of tangles.

Kantaris barely had the energy to stand up, but she pulled herself to her feet and stumbled into the bathroom. After taking a shower and drying her hair, she collapsed onto the bed and was asleep within minutes.


	6. Starlight

**DISCLAIMER:** I don't own Pokémon or any of its characters, place names, etc. The only characters I own here are the lovely Samara Kantaris (or rather, she owns me...hehehe) and her 'rival' Ivan. I guess Stella's mine as well, you could say. None of the other characters are mine (although I heartily wish I owned Lance and Giovanni, but unfortunately I don't...)

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: **I suppose you want to know my motives behind getting rid of Tyson so early? LOL I'm really sorry about that...I kinda had it planned, and I didn't realise that he'd make such an impression on everyone. Hehehe.

I actually have the next chapter written (almost completed) but I dunno when I'm gonna get chance to finish it and post it...I'm on holiday from school all week starting Monday 16th, but I'm on work experience Monday-Friday. Then I have coursework to finish. But don't worry, I'll get round to finishing the next chapter ASAP.

Thanks for the review, Lunar Sphinx! Hehe...I guess I should post one chapter at a time, really.

And thanks for another review, Kazeto Tamashii!

Anyway, sorry this took so long. Enjoy it, everyone.

* * *

Kantaris woke up suddenly with a sense of urgency as though she had overslept. She looked at the clock on the wall above the mirror. It was certainly late, nearly ten o'clock at night. She had been asleep for most of the day. Her body clock was messed up by now, but Kantaris was a night person by nature so this suited her fine. She felt a weird kind of energy and alertness at night.

She got up and turned on the kettle that was sitting on a tray on the bedside table. She also took a cup and saucer and a packet of hot chocolate from the tray. She wandered over to the window while waiting for the kettle to boil. It wasn't a particularly cold night, but her hair was still damp from the shower. Kantaris shivered and leant over the radiator, trying to get warm. The view from her window wasn't so bad. She could see over the tops of most of the buildings and up onto the hills of Cerulean Cape. After gazing for a few moments, she noticed a strange cluster of sparkly things near the top of one of the hills. They reminded her of diamonds.

Kantaris made herself a cup of hot chocolate and stood at the window, drinking slowly and cradling the cup in her hands so as to make the most of its warmth. She never removed her gaze from the glittering things at the top of the hill. They seemed to be moving a little, like floating candles. But the light they gave out was sharper than that of fire, and it was bright silver in colour.

With her curiosity and sense of adventure roused, Kantaris brushed her hair quickly and put on the belt that carried her four Pokémon as well as two extra Pokéballs. She couldn't be bothered bringing her heavy backpack, so she simply grabbed her coat. She drunk down the last of her hot chocolate and seized the door key before rushing off.

There wasn't much nightlife in this part of Cerulean City, probably because it was relatively near the outskirts. Kantaris wasn't all too sure where she was. She had arrived in broad daylight (and in a rush) when it was busy, so the place looked different now. But this was no problem: Kantaris simply headed in the direction of Cerulean Cape, jogging in the middle of the road most of the time seen as there seemed to be no cars around at all.

Kantaris took advantage of the peace and quiet. Here, the air was clean and fresh, unlike in Celadon City, which had something of a Grimer problem, and Saffron City, which was just full of traffic. The sky was unbelievably clear. There was a full moon in sight, but no stars. And most importantly, she felt safer than she had ever done while walking the streets of Celadon or Saffron after dark. As she reached the foot of the small hill that she had been looking at from her window, Kantaris could see that there was a small lake near the top of the hill. It was glowing.

She took the footpath that led up to the lake. The climb wasn't hard, but Kantaris could feel her heart racing as she neared the lake with its glowing things. She lay down in the wet grass on her front and crawled up to the side of the lake, being as silent as possible. Peering over the embankment, she caught sight of what was creating the sparkling lights: a crowd of Staryu, floating on the surface of the lake. Their central jewels were all lit up.

Team Rocket often resorted to selling Star Pieces and Stardust when they had nothing better to do, and Kantaris was reminded of the way she would hang around in the packaging area, picking up the pretty Star Pieces and admiring them. They were red in colour, but whenever they caught the light they would always shine silver, for some reason. Kantaris knew where they came from, of course, but prior to now, she had never seen an actual Staryu. She decided that the Star Pieces looked a lot nicer on living Staryus, and she made a mental note to discourage her teammates away from selling Star Pieces once she got back. But right now, she had to catch a Staryu.

Singling one out from near the bank of the lake, she released Pineco from its Pokéball with an order of,

"Leech Life!"

Pineco carried out an attack that looked similar to Oddish's Absorb. The floating Staryu was caught unawares and it immediately straightened up in the water before leaping out of the lake and onto the grass, just a few feet away from Kantaris. Its jewel glowed even brighter, and hundreds of little stars were projected from it like tiny golden bullets – a Swift attack. The stream of stars hit Pineco full on, and Pineco bristled angrily as it got up.

"Um...Tackle!" Kantaris ordered quickly before Pineco had chance to Self-Destruct.

Pineco delivered an impressive Tackle that made the Staryu fall backwards into the lake. Kantaris watched anxiously as a few bubbles rose from the surface. After a few seconds, the Staryu floated to the surface again. Kantaris tugged a free Pokéball from her belt and tossed it towards the lake in an underarm throw. The Pokéball took up the Staryu and landed on the grass with a soft thud. It rocked slowly from side to side; the button in the middle lit up once, and it fell still.

Kantaris had been holding her breath for the past thirty seconds. Now she let it out slowly as she picked up the Pokéball. Glancing up, she noticed that the rest of the Staryu had disappeared from the lake, probably sunk out of view. She also noticed a viewpoint, just a little further up the hill. A girl was standing there, leaning over a fence and gazing straight out over Cerulean City. Kantaris called Pineco back and put both Pokéballs back onto her belt. The night was still young, so she decided to take a stroll up to the viewpoint.

As she got there, the girl glanced at her.

"Impressive," the girl said calmly. "Well done."

Kantaris couldn't see the girl's face clearly because she was standing in the shadow of the trees and there was hardly any light now that the Staryu had left, but from her voice Kantaris could tell that she was young, maybe just a teenager.

"Thanks," Kantaris replied. She put her coat on – it was chilly up there – and sat on the fence. "What are you doing up here all alone?"

"I was training, but I think I'm done for the night. And as for being alone, my boyfriend used to come with me...but he's kind of busy these days." She changed the subject. "You have potential. How long have you been a trainer?"

Kantaris was a bit unnerved that this young girl was telling her that she had 'potential', as if she were superior or an expert on the subject. But she didn't want to snap at a kid, so she replied,

"I've been a trainer for quite a while, but only casually. But I'm on the Gym Challenge at the moment. I've just started." She paused and asked, "Have you ever been on the Gym Challenge?"

"I can't," the girl replied. "I'm not allowed."

"Not allowed?" Kantaris realised that her last question had been a stupid one anyway. Her parents would have never let her travel alone at such a young age. Well, she'd left home at round about this girl's age, but she could have predicted what her parents' attitude would have been. "You'll be allowed, someday."

"It's not because of my age!" the girl replied stiffly. "I'm a Gym Leader. Gym Leaders can't take the Gym Challenge themselves unless they give up their Gym for a while. And I don't wanna do that. It's the only thing I'm good at."

"Whoa!" Kantaris exclaimed. "You're a Gym Leader?"

_First Brock, now this? Just gets weirder and weirder._

"That's right," the girl said. "I'm Misty Waterflower, the youngest of four sisters and the Cerulean City Gym Leader."

"Do you mind if I ask how old you are?" Kantaris asked with newfound respect.

"Fourteen. But age doesn't come into Pokémon training, you know."

Kantaris blushed, feeling stupider than ever. But soon her attitude changed. So what if Misty was a Gym Leader? She was just a kid! And Kantaris had to battle the Cerulean City Gym Leader either way. It could only be to her advantage that her opponent was three years her younger.

"Could I challenge you to a battle, Misty?" Kantaris asked, trying her best not to sound patronizing.

"Now?"

"If you like."

"Normally, I wouldn't," Misty said warningly, glancing at her watch. "But I can't exactly turn down a challenge, can I? Come on, we should go to the Gym."

Misty vaulted over the fence and got back on the path. Kantaris slipped down from where she was sitting and followed silently, all the way down the hill. At the bottom of the hill, when they hit the main road again, Misty turned left and took the second right. It was a cul-de-sac, and at the end there was an attractive round building with a glass-domed roof. The lights were on.

Misty entered a code into the door and went in.

"I'm back, Kate!" she called out. "I got a challenger!"

"Okay! Good luck!" a voice called from a room at the opposite end of the Gym.

Kantaris looked around in wonder. It looked more like a public swimming pool than a Pokémon Gym. There was a round pool in the centre, and it had a platform running across its middle so that it looked somewhat like a Pokéball. Posters adorned the walls, and at the opposite side of the pool there were two doors.

Misty walked round to the opposite side of the pool and Kantaris got a good look at her for the first time. She actually looked younger than fourrteen. She was petite (scrawny, even), with flaming ginger hair tied back in a scruffy ponytail. She was dressed as if it were summer, in shorts and a T-shirt. Kantaris felt cold just looking at her, even though it was warm in the Gym.

"Is Kate one of your sisters?" Kantaris asked.

"Nah, she just trains here from time to time," Misty replied. "My sisters are part of a synchronized swimming team. They're touring at the moment."

Kantaris noticed that most of the posters on the walls were advertising synchronized swimming displays or water shows.

"Is synchronized swimming not your thing?" Kantaris asked. She wasn't just being polite: she was actually a little curious. She couldn't imagine Misty being a synchronized swimmer.

Misty glanced at her feet and sighed.

"No," she replied uncomfortably. "I'm the family's only Pokémon trainer. That's why I was able to become a Gym Leader. Like I said, it's all I have."

Kantaris could tell that Misty didn't really want to talk about this. So she decided to change the subject.

"My name's Samara," she said by way of a brief introduction. She didn't know quite why she'd chosen to give her first name only, but she had. It didn't matter that much.

"Where are you from?"

"Saffron City."

"Do _you_ have any brothers or sisters?" This seemed like an unusual question to ask a challenger, but Kantaris answered it anyway.

"Nope, I'm an only one."

"Bet that's nice," Misty commented.

"I used to hate it. I was lonely, and my parents were always hanging round me, fussing..." She shrugged. "But now I don't mind, 'cos I have a big bunch of friends to hang around with."

By 'friends' she meant fellow Team Rocket members. But heaven forbid that she admitted to being a Rocket in front of this kid. She glanced down at her coat, just to check that it was still fastened and hiding her uniform. It was too humid in the Gym to be wearing a coat, and Kantaris was becoming uncomfortably aware of this.

"You can challenge me now," Misty said plainly, obviously eager to prove her talent.

"Okay. I challenge you, Misty, for a Cascadebadge."

"Challenge accepted," she replied with a graceful courtesy.

Misty had three Pokéballs at her waist. She tossed the first one; its Pokémon emerged and dived into the water from the air.

"I'll use my Goldeen first, if that's okay with you."

"And I'll use the platform."

Kantaris selected Oddish's Pokéball and pressed the button on the front, beaming the energy onto the central platform of the pool. Oddish appeared, and Misty smiled wryly. Kantaris was looking relaxed and at ease, but in reality she was faced with a bit of a dilemma. How would she battle against a Pokémon that was in the water? It could just dive whenever it wanted...how would any of Oddish's attacks connect? And what if Oddish fell into the pool? This battle didn't seem all too fair.

"Oddish, Absorb!" she ordered, realizing that it may be the only attack that would work here. A Tackle was out of the question.

Oddish rustled its leaves and the familiar green circle of light formed around Goldeen.

"Dive, Goldeen!" Misty ordered.

Goldeen did so, and Kantaris watched carefully. The orb of green light remained, and she could see it underneath the water. At the bottom of the pool, Goldeen slowed down and stayed still for a moment.

"Horn Attack!" Misty shouted.

Goldeen rose to the surface quickly and dived towards Oddish with a well-aimed Horn Attack.

"Dodge it!" Kantaris called, a fraction of a second late. Luckily, Oddish didn't need to be told and it sprang to the left. Goldeen sailed straight over the platform and landed at the other side of the pool, unscathed.

"Poison Powder!" Kantaris ordered.

Oddish shook its leaves again, spraying forth the deadly purple dust. Goldeen didn't dodge, and the dust settled on it and the water around it. Misty giggled and Goldeen dived underwater briefly. When it emerged, all the powder had washed off. Kantaris pouted.

"Absorb again, Oddish!" she commanded.

"Dodge it with a Peck attack, Goldeen!"

Oddish's attack missed, but Goldeen's attack didn't. Peck was a Flying type attack, and so it caused considerable damage. Oddish teetered at the edge of the platform and in a moment of panic, Kantaris quickly called it back into its Pokéball.

"Let's try Staryu!" she said, throwing forth her fifth Pokéball.

"Are you sure?" Misty asked as Staryu landed in the water about two metres away from Goldeen. "You weakened it before catching it."

"It'll hold," Kantaris replied confidently. "Swift!"

Staryu sprung out of the water and stood at Kantaris' feet. From its central jewel it shot forth golden stars like gunfire. Goldeen dived, but the stars followed it. Kantaris smirked, suddenly remembering that Swift never missed. It was the attack that trainers always used, if they could, when their opponent's Pokémon was in the air or underground.

"Peck attack!" Misty yelled.

"Spin Tackle!" Kantaris ordered a moment later.

Goldeen rose out of the water to an incredible height, and Staryu seemed to teeter backwards for a second, watching it. Then, as it descended to attack, Staryu leapt up and projected itself straight at it. The two Pokémon collided heavily. Goldeen fainted and fell from the air in a vertical line before landing in Kantaris' side of the pool with a resounding splash. Staryu continued through the air in a graceful, spinning arc and landed in Misty's side of the pool almost silently. Misty eyed it for a moment.

"Impressive..." she said slowly as Goldeen returned to its Pokéball.

"Naturally."

Kantaris sang to herself as Misty selected her next Pokémon. She released it without a word, and it was so small, Kantaris had to stand on tiptoes to see it. It was a Horsea, and it faced Staryu on Misty's side of the pool.

"Smokescreen, Horsea!"

Smokescreen? For a Water Pokémon? Kantaris raised her eyebrows.

_For a moment, Horsea did nothing._ It faced Staryu calmly, and everything was silent. Kantaris held her breath in anticipation. Then Horsea suddenly spat a jet of ink at Staryu. Kantaris blinked, taken aback.

"Um...whatever," she muttered. "Water Gun!"

She knew it wouldn't do much damage: she just wanted to see.

Staryu had a surprisingly powerful Water Gun. It was so strong, it sent Horsea reeling backwards and crashing into the pool wall. Kantaris smiled a little smile. She'd certainly picked the right Staryu.

"Swift!" she called out before Horsea had the chance to move. She intended to keep Horsea pinned to the pool wall.

"Dodge it, Horsea!" There was a note of desperation in Misty's voice.

Kantaris shook her head minutely, knowing that Horsea wouldn't be able to dodge the attack. But Horsea was fast. It swam off towards the central platform at surprising speed, but the stars caught up with it. They glanced off the back of its head brutally. Kantaris winced, but shrugged.

"Ice Beam!" Misty hissed, out for revenge now.

Kantaris gasped, partly out of awe and partly out of fear, as a beam of ice shot from Horsea's mouth like a crazy, oversized icicle. It hit Staryu full on, propelling it backwards into the pool wall (similar to what Staryu's Water Gun had done, in fact). Kantaris shifted uneasily, waiting for the Ice Beam to stop. But it carried on. She was at the point of calling Staryu back or even yelling 'stop'...but the Ice Beam finally finished. And Staryu was a gigantic, floating ice cube.

Kantaris silently cursed herself for not carrying any Ice Heals. She threw Staryu's Pokéball forward so violently, it jarred her arm. But she barely noticed. It was time to bring out the big guns.

"Stella!" she yelled, making both Misty and Horsea jump.

Nothing happened. Misty thought it was a joke. She laughed.

"So, who's –?" she began to ask.

But then a purple stream of mist slowly rose from the floor around Kantaris, and a pair of feminine eyes appeared.

"Who's Stella?" Kantaris smiled. "This is Stella."

She was relishing Misty's freaked out expression. When Stella finally appeared properly, Misty cocked her head to one side and gave her a curious look.

"Is that a Misdreavus?" she asked.

"No!" Kantaris replied scornfully. "This is _the_ Misdreavus."

"_What?_"

"This is _the_ Misdreavus..." Kantaris giggled "...that knows _Thunder!_"

She leaned forward and called out the last word as a command. Stella's eyes flashed and she threw forth bolts of lightning in all directions. Kantaris skillfully ducked to the left to avoid one that went crashing into the wall behind her. She watched with glee as the rest of the lightning bolts were directed towards the pool. And that was enough. The whole pool lit up with lightning.

"Electricity doesn't bode well in this Gym, does it?" Kantaris asked casually, gazing around the room.

Misty growled under her breath as she called back her Horsea, which was floating on the surface of the water in a state of unconsciousness.

"You're strong," she muttered, more to herself than to Kantaris.

"I _kno-o-o-o-w_," Kantaris called back. Her voice echoed around the room mockingly.

"If you wanna win just using that one attack, then so be it," Misty said with a shrug and a scowl, throwing in her last Pokéball.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah..." Kantaris said sarcastically. Then she added an exaggerated, "Ooh!" as a Golduck appeared on the central platform.

"Psybeam!" Misty yelled in a high-pitched voice.

The almost-invisible Psybeam hit Stella full on. Stella went spiraling backwards slowly, but she was giggling as if she were more amused than hurt. Kantaris ushered her forwards.

"Psybeam!" she yelled, imitating Misty.

Stella mirrored Golduck's last move, but it did little damage. Kantaris didn't care – she was just playing around anyway. Misty was looking irritated.

"Sorry," Kantaris said, "I meant...Shadow Ball!"

Stella laughed wickedly, and a black and purple ball materialized in front of her. Misty gasped in anguish as a strange light filled the room. The overhead lights on the ceiling flickered for a split-second...then the Shadow Ball hit Golduck just as it was diving into the pool. Kantaris wasn't actually sure if it had truly hit or not.

"Surf!" Misty ordered. "Get out of the way!"

Kantaris realised in the nick of time that Misty's last order had been directed at her. She performed a nimble jazz leap to the right and stood back as a miniature tidal wave rose over the surface of the pool and swept over Stella. When it cleared, Stella was still hovering in the air, but dripping wet. Kantaris didn't see how a ghost could be wet, but she didn't think about it too much. Golduck was in the water again. Too good of an opportunity to miss.

"Thunder!" she ordered.

Stella flew high above the pool and shook the excess water down. It fell into the pool like raindrops. Then she did a three-hundred-and-sixty degree turn before performing a perfect Thunder attack. Bolts of lightning ran around the edge of the pool and straight down into the water, bouncing off the central platform. Misty and Kantaris both turned away from the blinding light. The Thunder attack seemed to be going on forever.

"Stop!" Misty screamed.

"Yeah. Stop."

Stella stopped. She made a buzzing noise and made her own hair stand up on end for a moment. Kantaris smiled at her mild pun.

Misty gazed at her fainted Golduck hopelessly. Then she looked at Kantaris, who had returned to her original place at the opposite side of the pool.

"Do you want your badge?" Misty asked forlornly.

"I just beat you! Of course I fu –...of course I want my badge!" Kantaris checked herself, not wanting to cuss in front of a kid.

"Well, okay then," Misty said. She took one out of her back pocket and strolled over, removing the teardrop-shaped badge from the piece of thin black plastic that it was embedded in.

"Why did you ask if I wanted it?" Kantaris asked.

"I just wondered," Misty replied, handing it over. Kantaris almost snatched it off her.

Kantaris didn't bother questioning Misty anymore, although she couldn't imagine why any trainer might say 'no' to what was rightfully theirs. She pinned the light blue badge onto her coat neatly, beside her Boulderbadge.

"Alright! A Cascadebadge!" Now that it was truly hers, she was chipper.

Misty nodded.

"Good luck for the rest of your journey..." she said, that wistful side of her coming to light again.

Kantaris felt sorry for her again.

"You'll get out someday," she said, patting Misty on the shoulder gently. "You'll get to see the world."

Misty smiled. "You ain't so bad, you know."

"I know." Kantaris winked and made her way out of the Gym.

A little way down the road, she considered going back and thanking Misty. She felt a little guilty for keeping a kid up so late and delivering such a tough battle. But when she turned and looked, all the lights were out at the Gym. Kantaris felt tired, and her legs were feeling very heavy again with the sudden realization that it must have been almost midnight. She had a watch on, but she couldn't be bothered lifting her arm to check it.

Kantaris wandered back to the hotel sleepily and sluggishly, and as soon as she was in her room, she tumbled into bed without even bothering to get changed.


	7. Miss Kate Roscoe

**DISCLAIMER:** I don't own Pokémon or any of its characters, place names, etc. The only characters I own here are the lovely Samara Kantaris (or rather, she owns me...hehehe) and her 'rival' Ivan...and Kate Roscoe too. I guess Stella's mine as well, you could say. None of the other characters are mine (although I heartily wish I owned Lance and Giovanni, but unfortunately I don't...)

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:** Sorry it's been so long! First there was my work experience, then there was coursework...then there was just life in general...then there was more coursework...lol I'm sure you get the idea. Anyway here we go, on with the next chapter!

Thanks for the review, Lunar Sphinx! Again, apologies for the delay on this chapter.

Enjoy :)

* * *

"Hey, there, mind if I sit with you?" 

Kantaris was sitting in a spacious café. It was about eleven o'clock in the morning, and it was one of those days when, if you're inside with the sun shining in on you through the windows, it's really warm, but if you were to go outside, you'd be freezing.

Kantaris looked up at the girl who had just spoken. She was tall and willowy, with curls of blonde hair, the type that looked all perfect and bouncy. Her eyes were a medium shade of blue, and her smile was so broad, it seemed to radiate light. She was wearing shorts and a plain T-shirt, and she clutched a backpack in front of her with both hands. Kantaris flickered her covetous gaze over the attractive silver bracelet that the girl wore.

"Sure," Kantaris said with a shrug, pulling out a chair.

The girl carefully placed her bag over the side of the chair and sat down with her legs crossed. She pulled a mirror from her pocket and checked her reflection for a few seconds before replacing the mirror. She clapped briefly, obviously satisfied that she looked okay. Kantaris watched her out of the corner of her eye whilst finishing her sandwich. Suddenly the girl looked at her, smiled excitedly and said,

"I recognized you and I just _had_ to come and talk to you. I've been looking for you for a while, actually. I hoped you hadn't left town so soon and thankfully, you're still here. Isn't that lucky?"

"Oh, really? Sure. Lucky." Kantaris pushed her plate away. She could just tell this was going to turn into a similar experience to the one she'd had with Ivan. She looked at the girl challengingly. "Where did we battle, then?"

"Oh, we haven't battled yet," the girl said. "I saw you coming into Cerulean with that Rocket."

"Did you, now?" Kantaris was too tired to bother coming up with a more intelligent reply. "So what?"

"So..." The girl lowered her voice. "Are you a Rocket yourself?"

"What if I am?" Kantaris picked up bits of crust and nibbled on them. "You gonna arrest me or something?"

"No," the girl replied apologetically. "I'm sorry, I'm so nosy sometimes. It's just unusual to see someone from Team Rocket in the Gym here. Yeah, that's it! Sorry, let me start again. I saw you in the Gym!"

"Uh-huh," Kantaris said, still not very interested.

"I saw you beat Misty too! I'd say you're pretty good for a beginner! And your Misdreavus is the cutest!"

"How do you know I'm a beginner?"

"You're on the Gym Challenge. And I noticed you only had one other badge so...I presumed you hadn't been on a Gym Challenge before..."

"Yes, well, you're very perceptive."

"I've been there myself. I guess it takes one to know one." The girl shrugged, but it was a cheerful, carefree kind of shrug. "You want a coffee? You look kinda tired."

"Sure thing," Kantaris replied uncertainly. This girl was a bit weird, but if she was buying drinks Kantaris didn't see the problem with chatting to her for a little while.

The girl came back with two mugs of coffee. Kantaris drank hers a little too quickly, burning her tongue in the process. The girl laughed and bit her lip sympathetically. She offered to get Kantaris some water, but Kantaris declined.

"Mind if I smoke?" Kantaris asked. "Don't tell me it's a bad habit. I know."

The girl shook her head and dismissed Kantaris' 'bad habit' comment. She obviously wasn't bothered, so Kantaris took out a cigarette and lit it.

"So, where are you from?" the girl asked enthusiastically. Then she checked herself. "Oh, I'm sorry, there I go again. If I get too nosy, just tell me."

"Tell me who _you_ are," Kantaris said slyly, sipping her coffee, "and I won't think you're nosy at all."

"My name's Katrina Roscoe. But people just call me Kate. I used to train at Misty's Gym, but...Misty said I got too good – which I _never_ completely believed – so I decided to take the Gym Challenge."

"So you're on the Gym Challenge too, huh?" Kantaris silently prayed that this girl wouldn't even mention the word 'rivalry'.

"Not anymore," Kate replied. "That was...let's see...three years ago!"

"Three years ago? So what are you doing now? Did you win the League or something?" Kantaris' heart skipped a beat. "Oh, my God...am I talking to the Champion here?"

"Oh, no, I didn't make it," Kate said. She shook her head, and her hair bounced around on her shoulders. "I got all my badges, trained really hard...but when it came to the Elite Four up at Indigo Plateau, I couldn't cut it."

"You've been to Indigo Plateau?" Kantaris was slowly drowning in admiration, and a lump of ash was building up at the end of her cigarette unchecked.

"Yeah. But, like I said, I lost. I wasn't all that bothered. I just thought how cool it would be to have access granted to Mount Silver, and be able to catch all those cool Pokémon...but I guess it wasn't meant to be."

"So you...? What did you do, then?" Kantaris put her cigarette in the ashtray. She had been about to say 'So you gave up?' but upon consideration, it hadn't sounded very nice.

"I did lots of things! I came back to the Gym for a while, then I did some Pokémon breeding...you know, raising Pokémon from eggs and stuff – that was really cool – and now...I do a bit of everything, I guess." Kate stirred her coffee slowly as she spoke. "Mainly helping out at the Gym, if I have nothing else to do. How about you?"

"What is there to tell? My name's Samara Kantaris. I'm from Saffron. I'm seventeen – nearly eighteen – and...I haven't really done much that you could call 'achievements'. I fell in with Team Rocket when I was about fourteen, been with them ever since...and no, I don't regret it." Kantaris gave Kate a sideward glance. "I've been to Pokémon Stadium...and now I'm on the Kanto Gym Challenge. And that's it."

"What are you hoping to get from the Challenge, Samara?"

Kantaris blinked. She hadn't really thought that there was much to get from the Gym Challenge except the obvious: the Championship. She'd never even heard of Mount Silver, and she didn't know all that much about the Elite Four either.

"It sounds stupid," she confessed, "but I set out to take the League. And I still wanna do that."

"That's awesome!" Kate clapped again. "The Championship is the biggest thing going! You get a place in the Hall of Fame, plus you get to go round Mount Silver, where nobody else goes."

"Mount Silver?" Kantaris had to take the opportunity to ask, even though she felt stupid doing so.

"It's an obscure mountain, not far from the part of Cerulean City where I live, actually. Only Champions are granted access." Kate's eyes glazed over slightly. "And who knows what sort of super-strong Pokémon you could find out there? It must be such a privilege."

"What else did _you_ want from the Gym Challenge, apart from going to Mount Silver?"

"Oh, just the experience, really. I wanted to help other trainers, but I didn't feel like I could do that unless I'd proved myself, if you know what I mean." Kate finished her coffee. "Technically, I'm not a Pokémon Master seen as I didn't beat all of the Elite Four. But I'm definitely a lot wiser than I was! Oh, it's just _so_ worth it. It's so great to meet someone else who's following the same path, you know."

Kantaris leaned forwards towards Kate.

"If you've been to Indigo Plateau," she asked nervously, "you'll be able to tell me what it's like...won't you?"

Kate leaned back and tightened her lips thoughtfully. After a few seconds, she said,

"Are you...one of these really sensitive people, Samara? Or can you handle brute honesty?"

This was a bizarre question. Kantaris' face was expressionless.

"Just give it to me straight," she said finally. "What's it like up there?"

"It's the scariest place in the world," Kate replied, with a short laugh. "The road to the Plateau is probably the toughest you'll take, and if you don't keep your head, it's almost impossible to even get to Indigo Plateau. And then, when you get there, your heart_ really_ starts racing. You're on edge right up until the moment when it's your turn to go through those doors into the Halls of the Elite Four. You have to go in alone, just you and your Pokémon. No phones or radios are allowed, either. The chambers are huge, but they have no windows. As soon as you walk through that first set of doors, they slam shut behind you. From there, you have to battle the Elite Four in succession, only stopping in between to use whatever supplies you have with you. And if you lose, they send you out and you have to start all over again...that is, if you have the guts to start again. Sadly, I...well, I didn't fancy doing it again."

"Is that so?" Kantaris asked, unsure of what else to say. What Kate had said didn't worry her. On the contrary, it sent tingles of excitement down her spine. "What are the Elite Four like?"

"I couldn't really say for sure," Kate replied, "because the roster changes every couple of years. New trainers get to Elite status, the old ones drop out to give others a chance. The bunch I faced was probably different from the ones you'll face when you get there."

Kantaris liked the way Kate said 'when' and not 'if'. It made her smile. But the thought of the Elite Four intrigued her, and she had to press the matter. She couldn't see how there were just four trainers/Masters singled out as 'Elite'. Why four? Why not five?

"Who did you go up against?" Kantaris drank the last of her coffee seen as it was getting cold.

"Well, I didn't get very far. But there was an old lady called Agatha there. She was my first opponent. She used mostly Poison Pokémon, from what I can remember. And then I lost to Lorelei. I think she was new. She used Ice Pokémon, anyway."

Kantaris nodded slowly. She knew it was a death wish, but she had to ask,

"How tough were they?"

"They are the four greatest trainers in Kanto," Kate replied, "tougher than Gym Leaders. We're talking teams of five or six hard-hitting, high-level, high-impact, fully-evolved Pokémon! That's why, when you beat them all, you're worthy of the title 'Pokémon Master', even if you don't beat the Champion. I remember when I beat Agatha: it was the greatest feeling ever, knowing that I'd beaten someone so tough. I held my own against Lorelei too, but I accepted she was better than me in the end. Just a little." Kate winked.

"But if they're the four greatest trainers in Kanto," Kantaris mused, "then what does that make the Champion?"

"The most formidable trainer in the country, maybe the whole world." Kate answered seriously. "It'd be great if the Indigo and Johto League Champions had a grudge match. Then we could really see who was the world's greatest Pokémon Master!"

"So there are only two leagues in the world?"

"No, no, there's the Orange League and the Hoenn League, but they're different. They have their own Elite Four teams. The Indigo and Johto Leagues are the only two leagues on the mainland, though."

"So what if someone was Champion of all of the leagues?"

"Then...wow! They'd be, like, the undisputed ruler of the Pokémon world, and nobody would dare challenge them, and they would become a legend...!" Kate smiled broadly. "But that would be really unlikely. There are so many good trainers – and excellent upcoming trainers – out there. It must be hard enough to hold one Championship down."

Kantaris nodded slowly.

"Who's the current Champion, then?" she asked.

"No idea," Kate replied. "But whoever it is, he or she will be pretty damn tough, if you'll excuse the language."

Kantaris fought the urge to snigger, but made a mental note to watch her language. Kate obviously disapproved of swearing.

"So where are you headed now?" Kate asked, finishing her coffee.

"I dunno, to be honest. I'll go wherever there's a Gym."

"Oh. I thought you might be going to Lavender Town. There's no Gym there, but it's a really nice place to stop by." Kate frowned thoughtfully. "Rock Tunnel's a bit of a drag, though."

"Where would you say I should go if I'm looking for the next Gym?"

"Vermilion City's probably your best bet." Kate smiled brightly. "I'm headed there myself!"

"Really?"

"Yeah. I'm catching the S.S. Aqua in five days' time." Kate reached into her bag and pulled out a ticket. She waved it proudly.

"Cool. Where you going to?" _Why the hell am I asking? I'm not even interested!_

"Olivine City. My boyfriend's working away there and I said I'd go visit." Kate had obviously decided it was time for another question. "Are you attached?"

Kantaris smiled awkwardly and thought for a moment. Kate was looking at her as if to say, 'Come on, it's not a hard question!'

"Not exactly," she replied delicately with a little sigh. "But...I guess you could say...I'm _with_ someone. But it's just a casual thing."

"Aww, that's nice," Kate said, showing her sentimental, romantic side. "Is he a trainer?"

"He's a Gym Leader," Kantaris answered smoothly, unable to hide her pride.

"Really? Omigosh, that's _so totally awesome!_" Kate clapped her hands again. "Where's his Gym? I might have battled him! What's his name?"

Kantaris laughed. She had no intention of saying any more than she had to.

"You won't know him," she said. "He's only part-time."

She wasn't lying, exactly. She was just being economical with the truth. Kate seemed to be satisfied with Kantaris' answer. She nodded, and Kantaris breathed a silent sigh of relief.

"If you're heading to Vermilion," Kate said, changing the subject, "you could come along with me, if you wanted. It's quite a way away. It's not a hard route, but it's just a long way to travel on your own."

"How long does it take?"

"About three days on foot, but if you came with me, we could be there in a few hours." Kate winked. "I have a Pidgeot, you see. If I wanna get anywhere, I fly."

"That'd be cool..." Kantaris had never flown on a Pokémon before. "But I really need to get some training done, you know. I won't get anywhere if I shirk opportunities to train up and catch new Pokémon."

"You're right." Kate blushed. "That was inconsiderate of me. I'm so absentminded at times."

Kantaris smiled but said nothing.

"Hey, I have an idea!" Kate said excitedly. "There's no rush for me to get to Vermilion, as long as I'm there in time for my ship. I could walk down with you, if you like."

Kantaris wasn't exactly brimming with joy at the prospect of traveling alongside such a sickeningly cheerful character, but she decided 'what the heck'.

"I guess I could use company. And it's not like I've been to Vermilion before, so a bit of guidance wouldn't go amiss."

"Oh, that's so cool!" Kate clapped (yet again). "I haven't been through Diglett's Cave for ages! It'll bring back _so_ many memories! Tell you what...I'm gonna go home and get my stuff, okay? Will you meet me at the Pokémon Centre in the town centre in a couple of hours' time?"

"Sure, why not?"

Kate was a little annoying, but it would do no harm to keep her around for as long as possible. She'd been on the Gym Challenge before, ergo she'd have inside information on Gym Leaders and their tactics. Yeah, she'd prove useful.

That afternoon, Kantaris was hanging around by the Pokémon Centre, having checked out of the hotel early. She was bored, so she was pacing. She was beginning to think that Kate had forgotten about her – she seemed ditzy enough.

But a few minutes later, she heard Kate yelling,

"Hey, Samara!"

Kantaris looked round to see Kate running over, a rucksack on her back and a large sports bag on her right arm. She had changed into jeans and a tank top, and her blonde curls were pulled back into a high ponytail. There was a visor perched on top of her head, and a pair of sunglasses on top of that.

"Sorry I'm late..." Kate said breathlessly, putting her hand on Kantaris' shoulder. "Typical me."

"No worries."

"So!" Kate smiled brightly. "All set for the next lap of your Gym Challenge, Samara?"

"Could you please call me Kantaris? Everyone does. I'm kinda used to it."

"Okay, sure! Just remind me, if I keep forgetting..." Kate giggled. "I'm like that with names, you know."

There was an awkward silence for a few moments, and Kantaris was just about to suggest that they hit the road when a young man approached them. He had short, curly hair and freckles, and he was looking particularly worried. Kantaris was half expecting Kate to ask him if he was okay, but instead, Kate let out a deafening squeal of,

"_Oh, my gosh!_ Aren't you _Bill?_"

"Why, yes, that's right," Bill replied, blushing and scratching the back of his head in embarrassment.

"Oh, wow!" Kate turned to Kantaris. "Bill's the _coolest_, don't you think?"

Kantaris bit her lip, not sure how to reply. She'd never heard of this Bill guy before, and he didn't look like anything special, and here was Kate obsessing over him. She made a mental note to ask who he was. Luckily, Bill broke the silence.

"I'm sorry, ladies," he said in a soft voice, "I overheard you talking and you mentioned that you were on the Gym Challenge."

"That's right. I am." Kantaris answered swiftly, placing her hands on her hips so that Bill had a clear view of the two badges on her coat.

"Oh, good. Then you're just the sort of person I'm looking for!" Bill exclaimed. "I need you to take care of this for me."

He handed Kantaris a Pokéball and, being the way she was, she took it without question. Kate's face was a picture.

"What is it, Bill?" she asked politely.

Kantaris was thinking that it didn't matter what the hell it was, an extra Pokémon was an extra Pokémon. And if this Bill guy was as good as Kate seemed to think, then it'd probably be a good Pokémon. Oh, well. His loss.

"It's...well, it's an Eevee," Bill looked as though he was in a rush to get somewhere.

Kantaris gasped silently and fitted the Pokéball to her belt before Bill had the chance to change his mind about giving it to her. What the hell was he doing, anyway? Giving out an Eevee to someone he'd never met before, when for all he knew, she could be...well, she was! A Rocket! Kantaris smirked to herself and shook her head in amusement.

"And you want her to raise it for you?" Kate asked, giving Kantaris a little hug. Kantaris cringed.

"I can't take care of it at the moment, I have so much on..." Bill said, edging away. "Um...thanks! Take care of it, okay?"

He ran off into the crowd, leaving Kate staring after him with starry eyes. Kantaris scoffed and shifted her bag so that it felt more comfortable on her back. She started walking, and Kate followed.

"Who the hell was that?"

"That was _Bill!_" Kate exclaimed, glancing back over her shoulder to see if Bill was still there. "Didn't you recognize him?"

"Recognize him?" Kantaris laughed. "I don't even know who he is!"

"You mean you've never heard of Bill's Pokémon Storage System?" Kate shot Kantaris a look of disbelief. "You must have! All trainers use it!"

"Um...I think I heard of something like that..." Kantaris replied flatly with a shrug.

Whatever it was, it didn't sound all too interesting. But, what the heck. She'd gotten a free Pokémon out of the guy. An Eevee! Wow. Kantaris half hoped that she'd run into Ivan again soon, then she could show him that she'd managed to 'catch' an Eevee.

Half hoped. That's all.

The journey down to Vermilion City was long and not especially interesting. In fact, the only thing marginally interesting about it was Kate herself. Kantaris had found her to be annoying at first, but as they got talking and Kate mellowed down a little, probably due to Kantaris' seriousness, she changed her mind considerably. Kate wasn't so bad.

On the way, Kantaris did a lot of battles with trainers on the roadside. During her battles, Kate would stand and watch patiently, folding her arms and saying nothing. She never battled herself, and Kantaris began to think that she had given up Pokémon battles for good. And yet this couldn't be true, because why else would anyone wear a belt bearing six Pokémon? Maybe they were just for protection or companionship or something.

Kantaris longed to challenge Kate to a battle, but she knew that this would be a bad idea. Firstly, she would stand no chance of winning. Kate was a veteran compared to her, and her Pokémon would be highly experienced. She'd thrash her, no doubt. And secondly, challenging Kate to a battle would put her in an awkward position: Kate would want to say 'no' to avoid an unfair battle, and yet it was impolite to decline a challenge.

Kantaris resorted to asking,

"So...what Pokémon are you carrying with you?"

"Well, I have Pidgeot..." Kate ticked them off on her fingers as she spoke. "And I also have Mr. Mime, Rapidash, Meganium, Azumarill and Smoochum."

"Smoochum?" Kantaris had never heard of a Smoochum.

"Yeah. She's my baby Pokémon. Raised her from an egg myself." Kate grinned. "She don't battle much at the moment."

Kate took out her sixth Pokéball and released the Pokémon from within. It was small and pink, with cute blonde hair and long, fluttery eyelashes. It had a babyish look about it.

"She's gonna be a Jynx someday!" Kate said, picking up her Pokémon and giving it a kiss.

Kantaris raised her eyebrows thoughtfully. There was something new everyday with Kate. Or maybe she herself was just ignorant when it came to Pokémon.

On their final day of travelling, they reached Diglett's Cave. And it was just the right day to be ducking into a tunnel: it was pouring down with rain. The two girls ran into the tunnel and Kantaris was surprised at how warm it was in there. Like Mount Moon, Diglett's Cave wasn't too rocky. It was soft and dusty, as though it had been built from some sort of sand. It was dark, though, until Kate let out one of her Pokémon and yelled,

"Flash!"

There was a blinding light that left colors dancing in front of Kantaris' eyes. When they cleared, she saw Kate's Mr. Mime walking in front of them, holding a beam of light.

"Nice!" Kantaris said.

"Flash. First of the Hidden Machines. Useful, you know!" Kate reached into her pocket, took something out and threw it towards Kantaris.

Kantaris almost caught it, but it slipped through her fingers. She bent down to pick it up, and as she did so, she heard something. It was a low humming, and it sounded like it was coming from the walls or from further down the tunnel.

"You hear that?" Kate whispered.

"Uh-huh..." Kantaris stood up and pocketed the small bottle that Kate had given her.

"That's the Diglett!" Kate hissed excitedly. "They built this cave!"

"Oh."

They carried on walking, and the humming gradually grew distant. The Diglett were obviously moving in the opposite direction to them. Kantaris was talking to Kate (or vice versa, rather) about the effects of a Hidden Machine. Kantaris was contemplating which of her Pokémon she should teach Flash to, and she wasn't concentrating on where she was going. Then Mr. Mime let out a sudden shout.

"How cute!" Kate remarked.

Kantaris looked ahead. There was nothing there. Then she looked down at the ground. Less than a metre in front of her was a small, adorable Diglett. Kantaris stood staring at it for a few moments.

"Diglett!" it exclaimed suddenly.

Kantaris jumped as if awoken from a trance and instantly pulled Staryu's Pokéball from her belt.

"Water Gun!" she yelled.

The first few sprays of the attack hit the wild Diglett, but then it dug underground.

"Swift!" Kantaris ordered, not about to let herself be outdone.

A ray of golden stars jumped forth, following the Diglett down its burrow. There was a small crash and the ground seemed to shake. Then everything was still.

"Where'd it go?" Kantaris whispered.

"_Diglett!_" The Diglett emerged at her feet again and blew a cloud of dust at Staryu. Staryu responded by delivering an angry, savage Tackle.

"Okay, that's enough!" Kantaris called out. With one hand she retrieved Staryu and with the other she threw an empty Pokéball.

The Pokéball glanced off Diglett's head and hovered above it. The Diglett disappeared into a swirl of red energy and vanished into the Pokéball. The Pokéball wobbled around on the ground, and Kantaris jumped on it just as it was about to fall into the burrow hole.

Then, just as soon as she'd got hold of it, the Pokéball leapt out of her hands as if it had a mind of its own, and flew off down the tunnel.

"What the f...?"

"That's Bill's Storage System!" Kate replied casually as if she hadn't just seen a Pokéball fly off on its own. "You must be carrying six Pokémon already."

This didn't make any sense.

"Where the hell is my Diglett?" Kantaris asked, staring after her Pokéball hopelessly.

"Calm down!" Kate tugged Kantaris' arm. "It's gone to Bill's PC. That's where all your Pokémon are stored, save for the six you carry with you! Didn't you know?"

"I want my Diglett." Kantaris was soaking wet, starving, tired...and now, miserable.

"You can get it when we get to a Pokémon Centre!" Kate said impatiently. "Come on...let's get going, already."


	8. A Crash Of Thunder

**DISCLAIMER:** I don't own Pokémon or any of its characters, place names, etc. The only characters I own here are the lovely Samara Kantaris (or rather, she owns me...hehehe) and her 'rival' Ivan...and Kate Roscoe too. I guess Stella's mine as well, you could say. None of the other characters are mine (although I heartily wish I owned Lance and Giovanni, but unfortunately I don't...)

**AUTHOR'S NOTE**: Well, another chapter's here, finally! I'm so sorry this took so long! First I was studying, then I had loads of exams, then I was on holiday, then I was just being lazy...hehe, well I've condensed a couple of chapters and updated little things...and obviously here's the newest chapter I started college in September so I dunno if I'm gonna get much time to update this but I promise I will, even if it's just at weekends or just during holidays.

I'm trying to condense the chapters so that I don't end up with about 40 altogether (lol) so a lot happens in this chapter...sorry it's so long! cries

Thanks for your little note, Pikah! I like your new penname!

Enjoy

* * *

The two girls arrived at Vermilion City that evening. Or rather, it was late afternoon, but it was the time of year when it goes dark early. Tired out, they climbed up one last hill and were met by a breathtaking view of a pretty harbor town, lit up almost entirely by a stunningly red sunset from across the water on the horizon.

"'The Port of Beautiful Sunsets', that's Vermilion..." Kate said, panting and leaning forwards to catch her breath. "I must say, we got here a little quicker than I'd expected."

Kantaris was too tired to talk. Kate was a fast walker and it had been hard to keep up.

"Let's go find a hotel," she said.

They did so, and the next morning, Kantaris woke up just after sunrise. She headed out to the Pokémon Centre and went on the PC. She clicked on the PC Storage icon and followed the on-screen instructions carefully. She'd never exchanged Pokémon before.

_Place Pokémon for exchange in the slot to your right..._

Of course. She had to send another Pokémon to storage before she could take one out. Kantaris thought hard. After a few moments' contemplation, she took Pineco's Pokéball and put it into the tubular slot beside the computer. Then she selected the only Pokémon in her storage box: Diglett. She clicked Exchange and waited. Tiny lights danced up and down the tube around the Pokéball. When it was done, 'Exchange complete' flashed on the screen.

Kantaris took her Pokéball gingerly. It didn't feel any different, except it was a little warmer.

"Got your Diglett, then?"

Kantaris turned round to see Kate walking over. As usual there was a light skip in her step and a cheery smile on her face. But Kantaris was too deep in thought to notice it much.

"I'm gonna hit the Gym, I think," she said.

"Do you think you're ready?" Kate asked openly. It was a neutral question. She didn't sound pessimistic.

"I should think so. I mean...I trained quite a bit on the way down." Kantaris bit her lip. "Do _you_ think I'm ready?"

_I'm asking for advice. I must be desperate._

"Hmm, let's see..." Kate drummed her fingers on her chin. "You might wanna train up your Diglett a little more. Otherwise, you should be fine."

"How's the Gym here?"

"That depends how you are with electricity."

"Electricity...?"

"Very weak against Ground Pokémon," Kate said, glancing at the Pokéball in Kantaris' hand. "And not very effective against Steel or Grass, either. Just don't use Water or Flying Pokémon, you should be fine."

Kantaris nodded slowly.

"But there's a good chance that you might encounter some Steel hybrids in there," Kate continued. "Magneton, most likely."

"_Steel_ Pokémon?" Kantaris blanched. "How do I...?"

"Use Fire. Or Ground. Or Water, if you really wanna take the risk." Kate smiled. "They're hard to damage, granted, but you should be fine. So I shall ask again: do you think you're ready?"

"I _did!_ I'm not so sure now!" Kantaris was pretending to be mad. Kate didn't fall for it.

"Be off with you!" she laughed, giving Kantaris a playful shove.

"I should be fine, right?" Kantaris laughed as well. Kate had said that three times in the past couple of minutes. It was mildly amusing.

"Sure you will!" Kate didn't notice that Kantaris was making fun of her. "I gotta go to the port. I might see you later, depending what time you get out of the Gym."

_If I ever get out,_ Kantaris said silently. But she nodded.

"Thanks for your help, Kate..." she muttered, half hoping that she wouldn't be heard.

"No problem!" Kate grinned.

Kantaris smiled awkwardly and headed off for the Gym, which was in the far west of Vermilion City. When she got there, she was surprised. It looked more like a warehouse. It was massive with plain grey walls and bars on the windows. And when she went inside, she was even more surprised. It was just one big room, with a large battlefield in the middle. There were small groups of trainers everywhere. Kantaris was about to walk out and come back later – the Gym Leader was obviously out, because there seemed to be a lot of people waiting. But just then, somebody called her back.

"New girl, where you going?"

Kantaris turned around and hurried to think of something plausible to say to the heavily tattooed guy facing her. But she couldn't find a reply. She shrugged.

"If you wanna challenge Surge, you have to beat a couple of us first!" the guy said, catching her eye.

"Why?" Kantaris demanded, looking away.

"'Cos we're his underlings, that's why! And if you can't beat us, you definitely won't stand a chance against our leader!" He walked off to the battlefield.

Kantaris wasn't sure if this guy was telling the truth, or if he just wanted to battle to kill time whilst waiting. But either way, she didn't see what harm could be done by battling, so she accepted and followed. She instantly tossed Diglett's Pokéball into the ring, feeling pleased with herself, but her opponent shook his head.

"A presumptuous trainer will get nowhere," he remarked. "You're expecting an Electric-type, right?"

The trainer skillfully tossed his Pokéball into the ring. A large, scary-looking bird appeared. It seemed to be made of metal. When it gnashed its beak or moved its wings, it sounded like clanging iron. _Oh, God, _Kantaris said silently, _big Pokémon. Not good._

"You look baffled," the trainer said, folding his arms.

"I..."

"Skarmory. Steel-Flying hybrid."

A Steel-Flying hybrid? That was unlucky. Diglett's Ground attacks wouldn't work on it because it could fly. And all of Kantaris' Pokémon were so very small compared to this thing. But then again, since when did size matter (when it came to Pokémon, of course)? Wasn't the legendary Celebii small?

_I could do with Celebii's help right now._

"I'm re-calling my Pokémon," Kantaris said, "and sending out my Cyndaquil."

She did so, and as soon as she had, her opponent took the opportunity to attack.

"Skarmory, Steel Wing attack!"

Kantaris watched in mild horror as Skarmory took to the air and spread its keen-looking wings and dived straight down towards Cyndaquil.

"Dodge it, Cyndaquil!"

Cyndaquil deftly ducked and rolled to the right, avoiding the wing attack but getting hit by Skarmory's beak instead. There was no time to lose.

"Flamethrower!" Kantaris yelled.

Cyndaquil's back glowed bright red as it ensued forth a brilliant Flamethrower, hitting Skarmory as it descended. The bird seemed to glow with the heat, and it cowered. Kantaris looked a little alarmed, but Skarmory's trainer was nonchalant.

"It'll take more than that to beat my Skarmory."

"Ember attack!" Kantaris ordered, ignoring her opponent.

Cyndaquil shot one...two...three...four...five fireballs at Skarmory. Each one hit head on, and Skarmory fell to its knees. Kantaris raised her eyebrows and smiled – she was winning already!

"Finish it off with a Tackle, Cyndaquil!"

Cyndaquil, also looking more confident, sprang at its opponent. The attack itself was decent, but it had the same effect as running into a metal wall. Cyndaquil fell back, having done more damage to itself than Skarmory.

"Okay, that was stupid," Kantaris admitted.

"Skarmory, Whirlwind!" the trainer commanded.

Skarmory instantly climbed to its feet and bent down over Cyndaquil as if making a mockery of it. It cawed loudly and blew a gust of wind that sent Cyndaquil spiraling backwards. Kantaris caught her Pokémon but dropped it instantly because of the heat. She cursed, waving her hand in the air to cool the burn. Her opponent laughed.

"You gotta send out another Pokémon."

"I know!" Kantaris clicked her tongue. "Go, Stella..."

Stella probably sensed her trainer's predicament, because she emerged faster than ever before, not wasting any time on special effects or a classy entrance. She spat at her opponent in spite, and Skarmory's eyes were ablaze. It scratched the ground, impatient to attack.

"Gust attack."

Stella squinted and stood her ground (well, she was floating, but you know what I mean) as the light Gust attack ruffled her hair.

"Thunder attack!" Kantaris said gleefully. This was her 'piece de resistance'.

Stella unleashed one of her most impressive Thunder attacks ever, but it was as if Skarmory was surrounded by a shield. The attack didn't work.

"Steel Pokémon," Skarmory's trainer said scornfully. "Electric attacks don't work."

"Fine..." Kantaris pouted, extremely put off. "Shadow Ball!"

"Fly, Skarmory!"

The Shadow Ball attack missed Skarmory as it took to the air. Kantaris swore before saying,

"Nightshade, Stella!"

Stella closed her eyes and sent forth a powerful Nightshade that seemed to engulf the entire room. Everything came to a standstill and the whole room witnessed Skarmory fall from the air and land on the dusty floor with an almighty clang that rang in everyone's ears for at least 30 seconds afterwards.

"How now?" Kantaris asked carefully.

"Very good..." the trainer said, giving Kantaris a small amount of cash. Kantaris looked at it in dissatisfaction but said nothing.

She took to the Pokémon Centre, impatient to get back to the Gym and battle the Gym Leader. Enough of this whole 'underlings' rubbish: she was there for a badge, not to train up the rest of the Gym. Her heart was thundering (no pun intended), so I think it's safe to say that she was a little apprehensive about facing Lt. Surge.

And when Kantaris got back to the Gym and finally met Lt. Surge, she figured she was justified in being apprehensive. An army cadet squadron leader and long-time trainer of Electric Pokémon, he was one tough-looking guy. And his 'I'm gonna shock you into submission!' by way of an introduction wasn't exactly welcoming either. Brock had been casual and generous, Misty had been chatty...but this guy seemed nothing short of ruthless. Gym Leaders were there to test trainers and Surge obviously took this role very seriously with no leeway for friendliness. But the fact remained that he stood between Kantaris and her next badge.

Surge's Pokémon were all sufficiently tough as well. First up was a Magneton as Kate had predicted. Kantaris, searching wildly for something that might remotely resemble a 'battle plan', decided to send out her weaker Pokémon first to save her stronger ones. This strategy had seemed okay in her mind, but when Magneton polished off her Diglett after just one minute, she realised that she'd gone about it in entirely the wrong way. She'd been planning to rely heavily on Diglett to get this badge. But now what?

Kantaris sent out her Cyndaquil and yelled,

"Flamethrower attack!"

Cyndaquil was at an advantage in that its opponent was somewhat too heavy and cumbersome to move quickly enough to dodge its attacks. This made up for Magneton's advantage in terms of size and level. Three Flamethrowers were all it took to take the Magneton down, during which time Cyndaquil suffered a Thunder Wave attack. It wasn't totally paralyzed but it had slowed down considerably. As Surge took hold of his next Pokéball, Kantaris bit her nails and wondered if her Pokémon would last.

Then something started to happen, something that Kantaris had witnessed only once before, in Mount Moon. Her Cyndaquil stood still. It began to glow. And it glowed brighter and brighter...

"Well, would you look at that?" Surge exclaimed.

"It's...evolving!" Kantaris' face broke into a genuine smile, which didn't happen often.

The glow died away, and standing there in Cyndaquil's place was a sleek, strong-looking...?

"Congratulations," Surge said. "You now have a Quilava. Good job, kid. You must have raised it well."

"Oh..." Kantaris blushed. Wow, he was giving praise. "Thanks."

Wasting no more time, Lt. Surge released his next Pokémon. Kantaris' feeling of hope and happiness died away as she laid eyes on a fired-up Electabuzz. She'd heard that its strength was formidable, that it was to Electric Pokémon what Scyther was to Bug Pokémon: in a league of its own. But nevertheless, she narrowed her eyes, clenched her fists and shouted,

"Quilava, go! Tackle attack!"

_Nothing quite like commanding a newly-evolved Pokémon_, she thought to herself. As a Cyndaquil, her Pokémon's streamlined shape had made it good at delivering swift Tackle attacks. Now it was even better because it was carrying more mass and power as a Quilava. It raced towards its opponent like a streak of red fire.

"Electabuzz, Thunderpunch!" Surge commanded.

The Thunderpunch sent Quilava flying with a crack. The Tackle attack didn't connect.

"Too close. We're getting too close," Kantaris muttered. "Try a Flamethower!"

Quilava let out a well-aimed, concentrated blast of fire that sent its opponent reeling. Kantaris began to doubt the strength of this Electabuzz. It didn't look like anything special.

"Again, Quilava!"

But Quilava was too slow this time, probably due to the Paralysis.

"Thunder attack!"

Kantaris shielded her eyes as lightning filled the battlefield. She felt a streak of heat running past her legs. Opening her eyes, she saw Quilava running not away from the Thunder attack but rather into the middle of it. It leapt into the air towards its opponent with its claws outstretched...and the Thunder attack was cut short.

"That's a Slash attack!" Kantaris whispered breathlessly. Her Pokémon had attacked of its own accord, but no matter.

"Hang in there, Electabuzz!" Surge was yelling, tearing his hair out.

_He really gets into his battles._

"Don't waste time, Quilava!" she ordered, taking her chance. "Finish it off with an Ember attack!"

Quilava fired two fireballs in quick succession. That was all it needed. Electabuzz went down without a sound.

It was while Surge was choosing his next Pokémon that Kantaris realised that her heart was pounding and her palms were sweaty. She was getting into the battle as well, although she hadn't realised. She imagined that being a trainer could prove to be reasonably stressful. _Imagine how the Elite Four must feel._

"Go, Raichu!" Surge yelled, tossing in his Pokéball.

"Oh, it's so cute!" Kantaris couldn't resist saying as it appeared in front of her, snarling fiercely at Quilava.

"Cute? Ha! Wait until you get a load of this: Thunderbolt attack, Raichu!"

"Dodge it with Agility!"

Continuing well despite its weakness and mild paralysis, Quilava took off around the battlefield, dodging every attack that was thrown its way. It speeded up. Raichu was lost. Then...it started to slow.

"Quick Attack, Quilava!"

The not-so-Quick-Attack missed at the same time as Raichu launched something that looked like an Iron Tail attack. Its hardened tail struck full on and Quilava was spent. It passed out.

"Just when I was starting to think that it was incapable of fainting," Surge remarked with a small chuckle. "Shame."

Slightly worried by this remark (and by Surge's tone of voice), Kantaris' mind was distracted. Was a Gym Leader allowed to make remarks like that? God, was he trying to _scare_ her? Ha. Glaring at Surge, she blindly released her next Pokémon. It was a slight error.

Surge raised his eyebrows and folded his arms, gazing at the small but boisterous Oddish prancing around on the battlefield.

"Do you want to reconsider your choice?" he asked, looking down on Kantaris like a disappointed schoolteacher.

"No!" Kantaris said defiantly, hiding her mistake well. "Go, Oddish! Razor Leaf!"

It didn't do much damage. Raichu was tough.

"Tackle attack, Raichu," Surge commanded with less enthusiasm. What, was he going easy on her now?

"Dodge it and do another Razor Leaf!" Kantaris ordered.

Oddish rolled to the side rather clumsily, but at least it worked. It found its footing again and launched another Razor Leaf attack. This one was even weaker. Kantaris felt slightly annoyed but when she looked at her Pokémon, she knew it was trying its best and she couldn't stay mad. Not now, anyway. If she lost, maybe...

"Quick Attack, Raichu!"

Quick Attack was too quick.

"And again!"

Much too quick.

"Again, Raichu!"

Weren't Raichus supposed to be slow? Kantaris couldn't get an attack in edgeways. She wasn't sure if Oddish had actually fainted or not but she called it back. It was a hopeless cause. She sighed, knowing full well which Pokémon she was going to use next._ I wish I didn't have to rely on her so much..._

"Stella," Kantaris whispered, tapping the Pokéball with two fingers.

"What's your next Pokémon, kid?" Surge asked loudly.

"Stella..." Kantaris replied so that he could hear her. "She's my Misdreavus."

As she said it, Stella appeared with something that sounded like a purr, fluttering her eyelashes at her opponent. Raichu looked a little taken aback.

"Shadow Ball!"

It was almost as if Raichu had been expecting that. It leapt out of the way instantly and the attack passed by harmlessly before dissipating into the air.

"Nightshade, Stella!" This was her opportunity now. She had to take it.

The oncoming blast was too large to escape. Raichu turned and fled but was hit and crashed to the ground. Kantaris watched it silently. So did Surge. It rose to its feet slowly and turned back to face Stella with a growl. Kantaris' heart sank.

"Ha! Not beaten yet!"

"But not long to go."

"Thunder!" they both yelled at the same time.

The weakened Raichu seemed too surprised at Kantaris' order to do anything. It delayed in its attack as if it were waiting to see if this Misdreavus really did have Thunder, which it did. That moment's hesitation was all that Stella needed. With a screech she unleashed a mighty Thunder attack that would have done an Electric-type Pokémon proud. The look on Surge's face was mirrored on his Pokémon's as the lightning hurtled towards Raichu. Kantaris saw it happening as if in slow motion. A smile slowly formed on her face.

"Keep it up, Stella," she whispered.

But Surge shrugged and held out his hands.

"That's it," he said. "You won, kid."

"I...I did?" Wow.

"You did. I'd say you could do with this here Thunderbadge." Surge reached into his pocket and took out a small box, which he tossed to Kantaris. There was also some money strapped onto the box with an elastic band.

"I was gonna give you a TM," he said, "but I've given away all my Thunderbolts. And I see that you've already had a Thunder one."

The underlings in the Gym clapped. Kantaris jumped a little. She hadn't realised that they'd been watching. She smiled sheepishly and went to shake the Gym Leader's hand. He wasn't so bad after all.

When Kantaris had found her companion hanging around outside, she yelled,

"Kate! Oh, my God! Kate! I did it! I've got my Thunderbadge!"

"Hey, that's awesome!" Kate looked twice as happy as Kantaris did. She gave her a hearty hug that left Kantaris struggling to breathe.

"I haven't lost yet," Kantaris said smugly. "Isn't that awesome?"

"It sure is! Looks like you're on a roll!"

"So...what time's your ship to...wherever it is you're going?"

"Ah, well, that's just the thing." Kate scratched her head. "I went to the port, and...it's been cancelled."

"Oh..." Kantaris said absentmindedly, studying her new badge. "That's a shame."

"Yeah, it is, but on the other hand, it means that I have nothing else to do." Kate smiled brightly. "So...I don't have to leave you just yet."

"True..." Kantaris glanced at her warily.

"Well, I thought...seen as you're starting out, don't you think it'd be cool if I came with you? I mean, I know I'm not the greatest trainer ever – I'm no Champion – but traveling alone can be such a drag!"

Traveling alone was part of the package. Kantaris had been looking forward to it. She stared at Kate blankly, trying to think of a decent reply. Kate was obviously all excited about this, for some bizarre reason. Kantaris couldn't think of anything worse than tagging along with some rookie. Kate had done all of this before, so why did she want to do it again? Maybe she was out to steal her glory.

"It'd be no problem! Really!" Kate insisted, seeing her hesitation.

"You'd come with me? You'd help me out?"

"Of course! I'd love to!"

"Why?"

"Why not?"

Kate looked so innocent. Kantaris laughed briefly. But true, why not? Here was someone who knew the ropes and obviously had nothing better to do...so why not make use of the situation?

"Okay, if you're sure. That'd be great." Kantaris forced herself to smile. "I could use the company."

"Of course you could!" Kate linked arms with her and led her away from the Pokémon Centre. "Oh, but there's just one thing. I'll need to pick up a bit of stuff from Cerulean City, seen as we're going to be traveling."

"That won't be a problem. I need to go through Cerulean to get to Lavender Town, don't I?"

"That's the quickest way, yes."

"Well...we better get going then."

Suddenly Kate stopped and took a Pokéball from her bag. She tossed it up in the air and its inhabitant emerged – a gigantic, majestic Pidgeot with red and gold plume.

"Nice," Kantaris murmured.

"He's a star," Kate replied, climbing up onto her Pokémon's back. She offered her hand to Kantaris. "Come on, then."

"What?"

"You didn't think we walked all the way down here just to walk all the way back, did you?"

"But I can't go flying around! I need to train!" Kantaris fidgeted and Kate looked at her wryly.

"You've never flown before, huh?"

"No," Kantaris admitted.

"You should. It's fun."

"Um...I think I'll walk. I'll meet you back in Cerulean."

"Oh, no, you won't!" Kate laughed. "I insist!"

And with surprising strength, she pulled Kantaris up onto Pidgeot's back.

"How fast does this thing go?" Kantaris asked, clinging onto Pidgeot's feathers.

"Oh, not fast..." Kate replied airily. "North to Cerulean City, Pidgeot!"

Pidgeot's wings churned up a massive cloud of dust as it took off and sped northwards towards Cerulean City.

"I thought you said it didn't go fast!" Kantaris screamed, clinging on for her life.

"This isn't fast! You should try flying on a Dragonite!"

"You've flown on a Dragonite?" Kantaris nearly fell off in surprise.

"No, but...it's the fastest flyer in the world."

"I won't be trying that in a hurry."

They landed in a small field behind a housing estate on Cerulean Cape. It looked like a nice, quiet area to live. Kate obviously did live here, because she put Pidgeot back in its ball and then walked off in the direction of the houses, not bothering that she was trundling through mud. Kantaris followed her disapprovingly, but her attention was half on avoiding muddy patches in the grass...and half on a large, white building at the other side of the field.

"Do you wanna come in for a drink or something?" Kate asked when they arrived at her front door.

"No, that's okay," Kantaris replied, still looking between the houses at the mysterious old building. "I'm just gonna go...look around for a while."

"Are you sure? It's kinda cold."

Kantaris shrugged it off.

"I like the cold. It's fine. I'll be back soon."

"Okay. I'll be waiting here for you. Take care."

As soon as Kate had shut the door, Kantaris sprinted off towards the building, not bothering about her boots getting muddy anymore. The building was surrounded by a barbed wire fence which held a faded wooden sign: 'DANGER: DERELICT BUILDING. DO NOT ENTER.'

"Whatever," Kantaris said.

Steadying herself on one of the wooden posts, she swung her legs over the fence and landed in the long, unkempt grass on the other side. An old plaque by the door mentioned that this place was a power plant...or at least, it used to be.

Kantaris pushed the door. It wouldn't budge. So, having glanced around nervously to make sure nobody was watching, she kicked it as hard as she could. It fell through with a crack as it landed on the tiled floor. She thanked compulsory martial arts training with Team Rocket for that.

There were various holes in the walls, ceiling and windows that let the light in. Kantaris wandered through the building silently, loving the adrenaline and the feeling of being somewhere that she blatantly wasn't supposed to be. She heard a noise behind her, and her heart skipped a beat. She spun around instantly to find herself face to face with a Magnemite. The nail on its head was buzzing with static electricity.

In mild alarm, Kantaris called Stella out of her Pokéball.

"Attack, Stella!" she commanded.

Stella's eyes glowed as she issued forth a Psywave. The Magnemite fell from the air and landed on the tiled floor with a loud ding. It looked to be knocked out. Kantaris was about to walk off and carry on exploring, but she felt sorry for the Magnemite although she didn't know why. So instead, she took a Pokéball from her bag and tossed it. It captured the Magnemite easily and vanished to be stored in the PC System.

"Well, that's another new Pokémon, I guess," Kantaris whispered. Just then, there was a brief flash and a rumble of thunder. "Looks like a storm."

_A storm? Just like that? Weird._

Kantaris called Stella back into her Pokéball and decided to turn back. It wouldn't be good if the building got hit by lightning while she was still inside. From the looks of things, the old power plant had already been hit several times in the past. It made sense seen as it was high on a hill in the middle of a field, a perfect target for lightning. And besides, there was nothing to see.

Kantaris shielded her eyes from an exceptionally bright flash of lightning. The thunder that followed was so loud that the whole place seemed to shake. For one terrifying moment, she thought she'd been hit (or come close to being hit). _This must be a pretty bad storm, _she thought.

And then she heard something else. It didn't sound like thunder. It sounded like...some sort of bird cry. She felt her hair standing up on end, and tingles running up her arms. It was subtle at first, but it became more intense. Kantaris turned around just in time to see a blinding bolt of lightning hurtling in her direction. She threw herself to the floor and it struck the wall, reducing a large section of it to rubble and ash. She shook her head, trying to get rid of the colours and lights that were dancing in front of her eyes.

There was the noise again. The bird cry. Then a shadow appeared. Kantaris rolled over onto her back and found herself staring into the furious eyes of some sort of bird Pokémon. She froze. It was so big that it made Kate's Pidgeot look like a Spearow. Its plumage was gold, and the undersides of its wings bristled with tiny bolts of lightning. Its beak and talons were razor sharp. At first, Kantaris was mesmerized by its appearance. Then she realized...it looked indescribably angry.

She'd just walked into its home.


	9. Tempest

**DISCLAIMER:** I don't own Pokémon or any of its characters, place names, etc. The only characters I own here are the lovely Samara Kantaris (or rather, she owns me...hehehe) and her 'rival' Ivan...and Kate Roscoe too. I guess Stella's mine as well, you could say. None of the other characters are mine (although I heartily wish I owned Lance and Giovanni, but unfortunately I don't...)

**AUTHOR'S NOTE**: Has everyone abandoned me? lol...I'm still alive, yo. And so is this fanfic series. I've been doing loads of work on it...the next few chapters are either completed or in the process of being completed.

I left you with a bit of a cliffhanger last time (well, my terrible attempt at a cliffhanger)...so...now you get to find out what happens. It's a little unbelievable (if you've ever played PKMN R/B/Y, that is) but, anyway. Believe it. LOL!

Enjoy

* * *

Kantaris didn't have much time to think. She couldn't get up to run, so instead she frantically struck one of her Pokéballs' buttons before scrambling away. She nearly had a heart failure when she saw how tiny and pathetic her Oddish looked next to the formidable bird Pokémon. Part of her wanted to run away, leave her Oddish there and make a run for it. At one point, she would have done that. But for some reason, she just couldn't. It wasn't right. Her only other option was...to battle.

"Razor Leaf!" Kantaris yelled once she'd found her voice.

Oddish looked fired up, as if it were eager to prove itself. It leant forwards and sent out an intense Razor Leaf attack. Its opponent was so huge that the attack couldn't miss, but it didn't seem to do any damage either.

"Try an Absorb attack!"

Again, the attack connected, but nothing seemed to happen. The bird seemed to cry out mockingly. Then it drew one wing back and casually swatted Oddish to the side as if it were a speck of dust. For a fraction of a second, Kantaris was angry. But her anger was quickly replaced by pity. She ran over to her Oddish, examined it quickly and put it back into its Pokéball. It looked to be in pretty bad shape.

Her next feeling was that of terror. The giant bird looked angrier than ever. The sparks of electricity on its wings were building up._ It's an Electric Pokémon,_ Kantaris realized, _so therefore its attacks won't work on a Ground Pokémon._

With trembling hands, she unleashed her Diglett. She was about to order a Magnitude, but then she remembered that a ground-based attack would never work on a Pokémon that was in the air. But did Diglett have any other attacks?

"Rock Throw!" Kantaris called out.

Diglett looked at its trainer desperately as the bird started to peck at it.

"Okay, okay..." Kantaris shook her head. "Rock _Slide_, then!"

At first she thought nothing was going to happen. She was about to call Diglett back and make a run for it, when gradually pieces of debris on the floor started to rise. The bird was too busy pecking at Diglett to notice. All at once, a bundle of rock was dropped on it from above. The rocks landed on its head with a deafening crash, and it fell to the ground. Kantaris waited. It didn't move. Diglett was eyeing it warily.

Finally, Kantaris let out a sigh of relief. She was about to call her Diglett back when...

The bird arose again with a piercing shriek, shaking the dust and grit from its wings. It was looking a little weaker, as if it were struggling to stay in the air.

"Try another Rock Slide, Diglett!"

But Rock Slide was slow, whereas this opponent was fast. It launched itself at Diglett in a powerful Tackle attack, knocking it out instantly. It rose into the air, cawing triumphantly, as Kantaris called back her fainted Pokémon. _Two down, only four left..._

"Go, Quilava!" Kantaris threw in the second Pokéball on her belt.

Quilava emerged, already looking worried at the prospect of battling such a gigantic opponent. But it stood its ground, and Kantaris forced herself to smile.

"Your best Flamethrower!" she commanded.

Quliava cried out with the effort as it took a deep breath and produced a blazing Flamethrower. It hit the bird in the face and it screeched in anger. It responded with some sort of air attack – but it was too _powerful_ to be a Gust attack! – that simply blew the fire out of its way and back towards Kantaris. Kantaris screamed in genuine fear. However, she didn't leap out of the way but instead leapt towards the oncoming blaze, snatched her Quilava out of the way (with the flames on its back and all) and jumped to the side. She let go of Quilava, who scampered back into battle straight away and started launching Ember attacks at the bird of its own accord whilst dodging Peck and Thunder attacks skillfully. It was treating it like some sort of training drill.

Kantaris, still lying amongst the rubble, was in two minds over what to do. Her initial reaction was fear for her Pokémon, battling it out on its own. It was a hopeless cause. It would be better to run. But no: if Quilava was able to keep going, then so was she. As she climbed to her feet and dusted herself off, she noticed that she had burn marks on both arms and grazes on her legs, and the bottom section of her T-shirt had been burned off completely from when she had seized Quilava.

If she had stood around thinking about it, the pain would have hit her and she would have quit – she wasn't actually that brave by nature when it came to pain, although she liked to think that she was. But she leapt over the pile of rubble and onto the 'battlefield' where the bird Pokémon was now walking on the ground, coming ever closer, driving Quilava further and further back. Quilava was weakening.

Kantaris wondered why the bird was walking now. Then she noticed that part of its left wing was badly burnt and its right was in an awkward position as if it was injured in some way. _We're making progress, _she thought.

Quilava's part in the battle soon ended – it collapsed out of pure exhaustion and Kantaris called it back with silent but immense gratitude. When she'd first set out with her disobedient, nothing-special Cyndaquil, she'd never imagined that it had so much fight in it waiting to be unleashed. Now she knew that it wasn't to be underestimated.

But she wasn't out of danger yet. She was about to send Staryu out when she remembered her Eevee, 'never raced nor rallied'. This would be a baptism of fire for her poor Eevee – she'd hardly battled with it before – but it was inevitable that it would have to fight at some point. Kantaris wasn't giving up. So she sent it out. So far as she knew, it only had four attacks. None of them would be much use, but it was worth a try.

"Quick Attack!" she ordered, deciding that she'd wasted enough time already.

Eevee, seemingly unbothered by its formidable opponent, raced forwards into a mediocre Quick Attack. It hit (it was hard to miss, really) but it didn't seem to do any damage. This really was hopeless. The bird cawed mockingly in a sing-song fashion and flicked Eevee out of its sight with the tip of its beak. Horrified, Kantaris ran forward to catch it before it hit the wall. Her Pokémon were dropping like flies. If she weren't careful, she would have serious medical bills to pay at the Pokémon Centre after this. If she ever got out alive.

_Don't be stupid_, she told herself firmly.

Kantaris put Eevee back into its Pokéball and hastily released Staryu in its place. If she were to lose this battle, she would lose in style: Stella would be the last to fight. As Staryu appeared, the bird suddenly took to the air again as if the sight of its opponent strengthened it, somehow. It knew that it was at an extreme advantage. Kantaris longed to call for a Hydro Pump or even an Ice Beam, but she knew that Staryu wouldn't have either of those attacks at this level. So, instead, she called for a Water Gun.

As if sensing the urgency of the situation, Staryu steadied itself and a terrific blast of water ensued forth. The large bird seemed surprised by its power but it was too late to dodge. The attack hit full on and the bird was thrown against the back wall. It fell to the floor and hopped onto its feet weakly, stumbling every so often as it ran forwards again. Sparks of electricity leapt from its wings.

"Spin Tackle!" Kantaris commanded.

Staryu was looking particularly on form. Like a boomerang, it flew into the air, hitting the bird on the head with each of its five limbs before returning to its original place. No damage to Staryu as of yet. It was at full strength.

With its last few ounces of strength (or so it seemed), the bird screeched and unleashed a dazzling Thunder attack. It was unavoidable. Kantaris could do nothing but crouch by the door, out of the way. She didn't even have to look to know that Staryu had fainted. She felt a rush of heat zoom past her head, which was followed by a burning smell. She cursed as she looked at a few locks of her hair at the left side of her head that were singed at the bottom.

Now was the time to let out her anger. The battle was almost over.

"You wanna fight for real, huh?" she yelled, returning Staryu to its Pokéball. "You wanna beat me? Think I'm not good enough for you? Fine! I'll give you a fight!"

The bird loomed over her and screeched loudly. Kantaris had never been so scared. But she still had one last Pokémon. She had her fortress. And she let her loose.

"Go, Stella! Do me proud. If this is to be the end, let's make it count!"

Stella made a sound of general agreement. She narrowed her eyes and began to glow the classic blue color of a Psywave attack.

"No, not strong enough!"

In that split-second of hesitation as Stella cancelled her Psywave attack and waited for a command, the bird took its chance to attack. Something shot from its beak, passed straight through Stella and out of the door, missing Kantaris by a few inches. _A Drill Peck attack? Lucky miss._

"Shadow Ball!" Kantaris ordered. She wasn't shaken. It was too close now. She had to carry on.

Stella obeyed swiftly and shot forward a black and purple ball of shadow. It struck the bird under its chin, knocking it backwards. And still, it got to its feet again. Another Shadow Ball. The same happened.

"I'm sorry to do this to you, Stella," Kantaris said, "but I need a Destiny Bond right now."

As always, Stella listened to her trainer with neither complaint nor hesitation. The Destiny Bond was in place. Now all they had to do was wait for the bird to attack. It stood shakily, staggering around. It was weak, but its rage was still there in its dark, flashing eyes.

"Attack," Kantaris whispered.

But it wouldn't attack. It wasn't falling for it.

"Stella, Perish Song!" Kantaris commanded. It was something that she had hardly ever done before.

As the bird realised that it was about to be attacked again, it took its chance. Before Stella could begin her Perish Song, it released a Razor Wind attack followed by a Thundershock (or a weak Thunder attack) and its level advantage was such that that was all it took. Stella fainted, almost graciously, and a split-second later, the bird went down. And it stayed down.

Everything was silent. There was the rustling of the wind in the grass. Kantaris stood astonished. Now that the battle was over, she was back to her old self. Limping, nursing her stinging wounds and fighting the urge to cry, she walked around the fallen bird and looked at it with a mixture of excitement and terror. She reached out to touch it but was too afraid to do so.

"That's not right," she muttered. "What the hell _is_ that?"

And yet it was definitely a Pokémon. And a bloody strong one. Damn, that was all that mattered!

Kantaris ran for her bag that she had thrown to one side and she searched through it. She almost _did_ cry when she couldn't find any Pokéballs. But finally, she did. Just one. A plain Pokéball. She gazed at it for a moment before casting it towards the bird.

"Fly true," she whispered.

The Pokémon was so large that it took a while for it to be absorbed. The ball fell with a clatter and shook violently, rolling around in circles. Kantaris poised herself to give up and run should the bird break loose. It took about five minutes (or it felt like five minutes) for the ball to finally become still. As Kantaris approached it, it twitched once...twice...and then nothing.

With shaking hands, she picked it up. Just as she was coming to terms with what she'd done, it flew from her hand again and out of a hole in the wall. If Kantaris hadn't been so dumfounded, she might have panicked in case it got lost somewhere and didn't end up in her PC storage system. But she still couldn't believe it. Was she even awake? Feeling terribly stupid and cliché, she pinched herself. It hurt. So did everything else.

Then she heard footsteps from outside. Still stunned, she didn't turn round. The footsteps came closer. A low voice said,

"What the hell are you doing here?"

"Hmm?" Kantaris blinked and turned round. "What?"

Her so-called rival, Ivan, was standing in the doorway. He was carrying a Great Ball in each hand and looked out of breath.

"How did you get in here?" he asked sourly. "Did you break the door?"

"No, I...I mean, yes. I wanted to have a look round."

"Why?" Ivan snapped, eyeing Kantaris suspiciously.

"Why not?" Kantaris shrugged. "Why are _you_ here, anyway?"

"God...you mean you don't know what this place is?" Ivan rolled his eyes.

"No, but I'm sure you're gonna tell me."

"This is the old Power Plant!"

"Well done, Einstein," Kantaris remarked, returning to her old self again. "The sign outside the door says so. So you can read. Well done."

Ivan backtracked a little and glanced at the sign.

"Okay, there is a sign. But I didn't read it. I just knew."

"How nice for you."

"I'm looking for Zapdos," Ivan replied in a professional manner, adjusting his collar and scanning the building. "Apparently it nests here."

"Why are you looking for Zapdos?" Kantaris felt a bowling ball drop in her stomach.

"Because, sweetheart, it's one of the Legendary Birds."

"If you believe that they exist," Kantaris said, trying to cover her tracks. For some reason, she was scared.

"Of course they exist!" Ivan said scornfully. "What kind of trainer are you if you don't even believe in Legendaries? Me, I'm trying to_ catch _Legendaries!"

"Hmm. Good luck to you."

"So, have you seen anything?"

"No," Kantaris replied instantly. "Nothing here. You must have got it wrong."

"You wouldn't be lying to me, would you?"

"No. In fact, I came here to look for Zapdos as well. But the legends can't be true. As you can see, there's nothing here. No nest, no feathers...no Zapdos."

"You really are lying," he said immediately. "I know you are."

"I am not lying!" She widened her eyes in innocence. "All I've got from here are a couple of Magnemites."

Ivan glanced at her belt and smiled slowly and knowingly, making a show of it. Kantaris felt her heart leap into her throat. She didn't like the way he was looking at her.

"So you caught a Magnemite, huh?" he asked. "Prove it. Show me."

"I can't," Kantaris replied. "It's gone to my PC."

"Oh, really?" Ivan advanced towards her; she backed off. "Last time we met, you only had five Pokémon on your belt. You now have six. What else did you catch, Rocket girl?"

"Well, I didn't catch Zapdos, if that's what you're thinking," Kantaris lied (or was she lying? She wasn't sure). "I only have Pokéballs with me. If such a Pokémon as Zapdos exists, no ordinary Pokéball will be able to catch it, right?"

"Possibly," Ivan said, still suspicious, "but tell me what you caught."

"If you must know," Kantaris replied furiously, "I caught a Staryu at Cerulean City and a Diglett on the way to Vermilion Ciity. And I caught a Magnemite, just now. My Cyndaquil also evolved, in case you were wondering. Now I am intending to go to Lavender Town. I was just passing by and decided to check this place out. Is that acceptable to you?"

"You got your Thunderbadge? Already?"

"Of course I have." Kantaris pulled the right side of her coat taut to display her badges.

"Fight with me, then," Ivan ordered.

Kantaris was about to take up his challenge before she remembered the horrible state that her Pokémon were in. There was no way they could fight.

"I...I can't!" she replied, mortified that she was turning down a challenge.

"Oh, you _can't?_" Ivan looked equally mortified, but it was just an act. "And why not?"

"My Pokémon are all fainted. They're worn out from the trip up from Vermilion."

"You walked down to Vermiliion and back in such a short space of time?" Ivan raised his eyebrows. "That's quite a feat, Miss Kantaris."

"Thanks."

"And you didn't pass any Pokémon Centres on your journey?"

"No. I mean, yes. I did. But I didn't...I didn't stop."

"Ha!" Ivan laughed. "And I thought you Rockets were supposed to be trained liars! You're a joke. No wonder you left Team Rocket. Bet they kicked you out."

"It's the truth!" she snapped. "My Pokémon are all fainted so unfortunately I can't amuse myself by beating you. And for your information, I never left Team Rocket, nor did I get kicked out."

"I never mentioned a Pokémon battle," Ivan said threateningly. "A fistfight will do."

Kantaris eyed him angrily but stood her ground even as he moved closer. _He wouldn't dare,_ she thought. She remembered that she had a gun. The thought comforted her, even though she wasn't intending to use it. Ivan wasn't worth a bullet. A punch in the face? Maybe.

"I won't fight you," she said calmly.

"No, I wouldn't if I were you," he remarked, looking her up and down. "You're in pretty bad shape. Looks like you've been fighting enough already. What happened? Did someone catch you trying to swipe something and beat you up?" He laughed at his own 'work of genius' joke.

"That's none of your business," Kantaris said, blushing. She quickly fastened her coat to hide the burns and dirt on her clothing and any wounds that she had.

"How long had you been here before I arrived?"

"Not long. I just...came in to shelter from the thunderstorm."

"Thunderstorm? That's strange. They say that Zapdos sometimes appears when there's a..."

Something was set alight in Ivan's eyes. He looked at Kantaris. Her eyes widened in fear.

"Hey," he said. "Wait a minute. There was no storm."

"Yes, there was! There was thunder and lightning and I nearly got h...oh, shit. No." She'd just dropped a big hint.

Before the situation could get any worse, Kantaris put her bag on her back and bolted past Ivan towards the door. He didn't bother following her, but as she passed him, he took hold of her arm and pulled her close. With a little smile, he gave her a fleeting kiss. Kantaris was too shocked to say anything.

"I know you're lying to me, Miss Kantaris. I'll be watching you." He smiled at her stunned expression. That had been the intended effect.

"Well," she whispered in reply, pulling herself free, "that will be very rude of you."

Needing time to think (and time to get her mysterious new Pokémon), Kantaris went into the city centre and stopped at a Pokémon Centre. The healing took longer than usual and there was a charge incurred because some of her Pokémon had needed extra treatment. Kantaris was glad that her Pokémon were okay now, but her desire for her new Pokémon outweighed her happiness and she exchanged her Oddish for...

Zapdos. That's what it said on the screen. Kantaris did a double take. No, it really did say that!

"Oh, my God," she whispered. "I caught Zapdos."

_I caught Zapdos! I captured a fuckin' Legendary Pokémon! Can you believe that?_

Saying it out loud brought it home. She gasped and shielded the screen with her arms in case anyone was watching. Her heart rate doubled._ This can't be real,_ she thought. She glanced at the screen again. _Holy shit,_ she screamed silently,_ it is real!_

She seized the Pokéball, fitted it to her belt and ran back to Kate's house; her injuries were totally forgotten by now. It was only when Kate opened the door and screamed,

"What happened to you?"

...that she remembered all the burns and bruises that she'd earned whilst capturing...

_Oh, my God. Zapdos. I caught Zapdos. A Legendary Pokémon._

"I..." Kantaris had been about to formulate some story. But for some reason, she changed her mind and told the truth. "Kate, you won't believe what happened."

"Try me!" Kate looked genuinely concerned. Kantaris wasn't sure why.

When they were both sitting in the lounge and Kantaris had bandaged her wounds up, she began her unlikely-sounding tale of how she had broken into the abandoned building in the field nearby and had been attacked...fought...and ended up catching some weird Pokémon. She left out the bit about Ivan since Kate had never had the 'pleasure' of meeting him.

"Kantaris..." Kate's eyes were wide with…what? Accusation? Disbelief? Admiration? "Do you realise what you just did?"

"I...I think I do..."

_I captured Zapdos. It's mine. All mine._

"You just captured a Legendary Pokémon! Some trainers get only one chance at one Legendary. Some get none at all. Some get more than that. It's a random thing. But you've only been training for...hardly any time at all! Other trainers spend years searching for a Legendary and you just happened to find one! And you caught it, first time!"

"Sounds like you don't believe me."

"Well, I'm...I'm a little skeptical." Kate blushed and cringed. "But I'm not dismissing your story. If I see it, it'll confirm it."

"I can't let it out!" Kantaris whispered. "It's crazy! It attacked me with thunderbolts and everything! God, you should have seen what it did to my Pokémon!"

"But they're okay now?" Kate asked quickly.

Kantaris nodded.

"You know," Kate said, "if you catch a Pokémon – any Pokémon – it really _is_ yours. It won't run away. The only way you could lose it is by giving it away or possibly by having it stolen from you."

"You really wanna see this Zapdos, don't you?" Kantaris sighed.

"Sure I do." Kate grinned. "What trainer wouldn't?"

Kantaris followed Kate into the back garden and, after glancing around nervously for a few minutes she released the Pokémon from her sixth and final Pokéball. There was a flash. Thunder was heard in the distance. Kantaris winced and looked towards the power station. It appeared that Ivan had gone.

Then there was the familiar sound of bird cry again. And when she saw the bird hovering in the air above her, Kantaris couldn't deny it anymore. It was real. She had just captured a Legendary, and yet she felt more scared than pleased.

"Wow. But you know, a lot of people would say that that wasn't right," Kate said, confirming her fears. "Capturing Legendaries, I mean."

"I can see how they might think that..." Kantaris whispered. "But...winner takes all, right?"

"I suppose so, yes."

Kantaris hastily recalled her Zapdos with a call of,

"Return, Tempest."

"Tempest?" Kate questioned with a smile.

Kantaris shrugged.

"I dunno. It just goes with it. 'Zapdos' is too hard on the ears. And besides, subtlety is everything. I wouldn't wanna go proclaiming to the world that I own a Zapdos...would I? Kate?"

Kate suddenly looked all serious. Kantaris had never seen her like that before.

"Most certainly not. Whatever you do, Kantaris, don't tell anyone. You'll either get mugged for it or the Pokémon Defense League will have your guts, believe me."


	10. A Revival of Rivalry

**DISCLAIMER:** I don't own Pokémon or any of its characters, place names, etc. The only characters I own here are the lovely Samara Kantaris (or rather, she owns me...hehehe) and her 'rival' Ivan...and Kate Roscoe too. I guess Stella's mine as well, you could say. None of the other characters are mine (although I heartily wish I owned Lance and Giovanni, but unfortunately I don't...)

**AUTHOR'S NOTE**: runs in screaming Yay! I got reviews! So sorry for my impatience. Now I can die happy. LOL. Joking. I can't die happy until I've finished this whole TWINE series…yah. Really. Sorry the chapters are getting so long…I wrote myself a new chapter plan which is good because now I can just look at the chapter plan, see what I'm meant to be doing and get on with writing it. But it's bad because I can't use the 'writer's block' excuse. Hehe.

sniperkitten313: Welcome to the crazy world of Kantaris and TWINE. Stalkers are most welcome here.

Hail, Lunar Sphinx! Thanks for your review! Ivan is evil, yes. But evil is gooooood….mwahahaha.

Sorry this took so long. And…oh, I almost forgot: ENJOY!

* * *

The next day, the two girls set off East, totally unchanged by the previous day's drama (other than Kantaris' burns, grazes and bruises, that is). Or maybe they _were_ changed. They were acting differently: Kate was silent, which was unusual for her. She kept giving Kantaris sideward glances, and whenever Kantaris glared at her, she merely smiled and looked away. But Kantaris knew what Kate was thinking, so there was no point in asking. Nevertheless, it was annoying, and at Kantaris' first opportunity, she ran off to chase after a Spearow that she'd seen. Meanwhile Kate sat down by the roadside and watched her catching it.

"Nice one," Kate said, when Kantaris returned.

"Sure, sure." Kantaris batted off the praise and sat down next to her companion.

"You don't care about it?"

Kantaris stared at her blankly.

"What?"

"That's a new Pokémon you've just caught. Don't you care?"

Kantaris shrugged.

"It's just a Spearow."

Kate gazed at her amusedly. This time Kantaris had to question it.

"What now?"

"Nothing. It's just you."

"You mean you never caught a Pokémon just for the sake of it?"

"You mean, just for it to sit in my Storage System?" Kate shook her head. "Nah, I never did that…but I know that people do. Ignore me, Kantaris, I'm being doctrinaire."

Kate stood up, Kantaris followed suit, and they continued on their way. Now that the silence had been broken, Kate seemed a lot more like her usual self. She chatted away idly about this and that – Kantaris wasn't really listening – until they reached a Pokémon Centre and Mart outpost somewhere in the middle of nowhere where they stopped to spend the night after Kantaris had ambitiously blown all of her money on Pokéballs.

"Kate," Kantaris asked suddenly just as they were about to go to sleep, "have I done something wrong by catching that…you know…Zapdos?"

"Since when have you worried about what's right or wrong?" Kate joked.

Kantaris knew that there was some element of truth in this. She couldn't blame Kate for saying it. But she pretended to be highly offended by the remark. She turned up her nose and rolled over. Kate laughed her high, melodious laugh and said,

"You're such a hoot, Kantaris." She clasped her hands over her stomach and paused to think. "You know, I've never heard anyone say that trainers aren't allowed to catch Legendaries…but then again, why would Legendaries be so set apart if they weren't protected by some sort of law?"

"Oh, don't talk to me about the law," Kantaris sighed. She was falling asleep.

"There's a rumour that Lorelei wants a Legendary. And she's in the Pokémon Defence League."

"And don't _ever_ talk to me about the PDL."

"Oops...sorry, is that a bad subject? What I'm saying is…you haven't done anything criminal but if I were you, I wouldn't make a show of it. Keep it under wraps."

"I have this awesome new Pokémon and you're asking me to keep it under wraps?" Kantaris laughed into her pillow.

"It's your choice. But you'd certainly be wise to wait a little before letting it loose in battle. You don't have the badges yet. It must be of a high level." Kate paused to yawn and think for a while. "You seemed to have a struggle with it. I've never seen anyone look in such bad shape after fighting a wild Pokémon. What was it like?"

Silence.

"Kantaris?"

More silence.

"Oh, never mind," Kate said with another yawn.

The next day, Kate woke up to find the opposite twin bed empty and unkempt. A Team Rocket uniform was strewn over the floor, and its owner seemed to have attempted to hide it by shoving it partially under the bed. Kate couldn't bear the sight of a messy room so she got up for the sole purpose of making the bed and folding up the uniform. She'd never seen a Team Rocket uniform up close before and couldn't resist taking a look at it. It looked pretty warm and comfortable, but black just wasn't her colour. She held it up, examining the 'R' on the front.

Suddenly there came a series of bangs and the door was flung open. Kate dropped the uniform instantly and stood up beside the beds, stretching as if she'd just got up.

"That bloody door…" Kantaris muttered, throwing her bag down onto the floor. "Hey, Kate."

Kate surveyed Kantaris disapprovingly. She looked just as untidy as the room had done before Kate had tidied it up. Her hair was wild and tangled, her jeans were muddy and her shoelaces were undone. Kate, on the other hand, looked perfect as usual. And she'd just got out of bed. Kantaris seemed to neither notice nor care. She seized her Team Rocket uniform, not realising that it had been folded and put on the bed, and she stuffed it into her bag. Taking an apple out of her bag and munching on it, she started to ramble on incoherently about how she'd attacked a Drowzee and captured it, spraying bits of apple around the room as she did so.

Kate stood there with a brilliant white smile and nodded occasionally as Kantaris told her tale.

"Oh, it was great," Kantaris concluded. She stood up on her bed – muddy trainers and all – and began bouncing on it lightly.

"What are you doing up there?" Kate burst out laughing. She wasn't sure whether she should be more concerned about the bed getting muddy.

"I dunno," Kantaris shrugged. "Why not? I like heights."

"But you don't like flying on a Pokémon?"

"Uh-uh." Kantaris shook her head vigorously. "Airsick."

She wasn't actually thinking about what she was saying. How could she be airsick? Three times a week for the past two years she'd been travelling from Saffron to Viridian and back in a helicopter. She wished she were back there now, actually. She thought that she could just use a lie-in at Giovanni's mansion, or a morning spent lounging around by the pool, or….

"Whatever," she said hastily, jumping down off the bed and banging her head on the ceiling in the process. "We going or what?"

Rock Tunnel wasn't much further off. Its entrance was surprisingly crowded for this time in the morning. People were setting out early. Looking into the blackness of the cave, Kantaris shrank back a little. It didn't look half as inviting as Mount Moon. No lights. She mentioned this to Kate, who replied,

"I confess, it's not. It's tough. It'll probably take us all day, and that's if we keep going non-stop."

Kantaris groaned. Kate's idea of 'non-stop' would mean sprinting all the way through Rock Tunnel.

"I don't mind sleeping in there," she lied, "if we have to. I'm not in a rush to get to…wherever it is we're going."

"Lavender Town," Kate reminded her.

"That's the one. Lavender Town."

As she gazed around at the crowds of trainers, Kantaris had an idea. She beckoned Kate and whispered in her ear,

"Don't you think this would be an awesome time for me to use that HM you gave me? I could teach one of my Pokémon how to use Flash."

Kate smiled brightly. At least Kantaris was saying something sensible now, which didn't seem to happen often.

"That's a great idea!" she said, clapping her hands. "Are you going to teach it to Stella?"

"No, no, no…" Kantaris shook her head. "Stella's too _busy_, man."

Kate furrowed her brow. Too busy? What did that mean?

"Which one?" she asked.

"Duh! Tempest!" Kantaris' eyes lit up.

"You're going to teach it to your Zapdos?" Kate's smiled faded. She grabbed Kantaris' arm before she could make a move to carry out her plan. Usually when Kantaris decided on doing something, there was no stopping her. But this _had_ to be stopped.

"Why not?"

"Samara, let's think about this logically, okay? You've only just caught this Pokémon. It's beyond your control at the moment. It's too strong and _way _too noticeable. It would be stupid to go around showing it off, right? So the last thing you want to be doing is walking through Rock Tunnel amongst all these other trainers with a massive Legendary Pokémon beside you, giving out a million-amp Flash."

"So you think it might not be a good idea?" Kantaris asked blankly.

"That's kind of what I'm saying, yes." Kate forced herself to smile. "It's okay: my Mr. Mime has Flash. He'll get us through."

Rock Tunnel itself was the most mind-numbingly _boring_ place Kantaris had ever been to. It was nothing but rock. It was cold, dismal and uncomfortable. There were Zubats hanging from the roof of the tunnel – Kantaris managed to catch one of them – and other slimy, creepy crawly things hiding behind rocks. Water frequently dripped down from the ceiling and soon Kantaris was damp and shivering. Her leather jacket was waterproof but did little to keep the cold out, and although she was wearing her Team Rocket cap, which shielded her hair, water kept dripping down the back of her neck.

"This sucks," she said, her teeth chattering.

"Why don't you go off and battle or something?" Kate asked cheerfully. She was wrapped up in a waterproof coat, scarf and gloves. "Lots of trainers here."

Kantaris gave her the evil eye. She wanted to say various things. She also wanted to steal Kate's coat. But she was shivering too much to do either. So instead, she nodded mutely and wandered off to find some innocent trainers whom she could battle. Maybe she'd trick them into betting their coats instead of money.

When Kate and Kantaris found each other some hours later, Kantaris was still without a decent coat but she'd warmed herself up by battling. Stella trailed in the air behind her, panting with exhaustion and looking a funny colour.

"How did you do?" Kate asked amicably.

"Good. I beat everyone. Caught a rock thingy. Geodude."

"You look a lot healthier than you did before," Kate commented with a wink. "Thought you were gonna have to be treated for hypothermia when we got to Lavender Town."

Kate wished she'd never mentioned Lavender Town. For the rest of the journey, Kantaris repeated that immortal, annoying question 'Are we there yet?' at regular intervals. Finally (_oh so_ finally…) Kate reached the other side. Kantaris was a few paces behind her, still complaining.

"Are we there yet? My feet hurt. I'm hungry. I'm tired. I hate this place. Why couldn't we fly?"

"Chill out, Little Miss Rocket," Kate said, pulling Kantaris out of the tunnel. "We're there."

They were standing on a gently sloping hill looking down into a valley, nestled in which was a tiny town that consisted of a few small buildings, a church and a tall tower. The view was breathtaking. The sun had set, so the place was bathed in the beauty of twilight. There were no lights on in the town. It looked like the perfect mountain village. The church bell was tolling. It sounded as if it were miles away.

"I can't see there being any hotels here," Kantaris whispered, not wanting to break the silence. "Where are we gonna stay?"

"There is a hotel, just a small one on the near side of town, I think," Kate replied, calling Mr. Mime back into his Pokéball. "Or if not, I'm sure we'll find a place to rent. We won't be here long."

Kantaris wasn't the sentimental type. But she liked the look of this place. She'd had way too much drama recently, and Lavender Town looked like the perfect relaxation spot.

"Why not? Can't we stay for a while?"

"If you want," Kate replied with a shrug. "But there's no Gym or anything."

"You!" a voice exclaimed suddenly from behind them.

Kate turned round instantly to see who was yelling. Kantaris didn't need to turn round. She knew. Her little reverie had just been shattered. She looked up to the sky and wanted to collapse. _Ground, please, just swallow me up…_

"Kantaris, do you know this guy?" Kate asked, full of curiosity.

"No, no…why _me?_" Kantaris moaned. "Am I cursed?"

She forced herself to turn round. Ivan was standing there, tapping his foot impatiently.

"I have a bone to pick with you, Rocket," he said.

"What else is new?" _I just can't be bothered with this guy,_ Kantaris thought to herself.

Kate looked as if she was about to introduce herself to Ivan. Kantaris glanced at her sharply and the look said it all. Kate held up her hands and stepped back. She could take a hint, and she didn't want to get involved in any fighting. It wasn't her thing.

Kantaris nodded in satisfaction and glared at her 'rival' archly.

"Talk," she commanded.

"_You caught Zapdos_." It was an accusation, not a question.

"What makes you think that?" Kantaris raised an eyebrow and met his gaze confidently. "Are you gonna frisk me for it?"

"You wish, sweetheart."

Kantaris blushed but managed to maintain eye contact, not for reasons of battling but to prove her confidence.

"Look," she said, "it was an accident. It attacked me, I fought back, it fell, I caught it. I didn't know what it was until you turned up spouting off about it! How was I to know that you wanted it? It wasn't as if I _stole_ it from you, although if I had done, I guess that would make us even seen as you _blatantly_ snatched that Eevee from under –"

"Stop talking and battle me."

Kate looked at Kantaris concernedly and placed a hand on her shoulder. Kantaris sighed. Yes, her Pokémon were tired. _She_ was tired. But she'd already avoided battling with this guy once, hadn't she? To do it again would be…cowardly.

"Oh, let me guess…" Ivan rolled his eyes at her hesitation. "You can't battle me because you came all the way through Rock Tunnel without stopping to heal up, right?"

"That's true, actually," Kantaris replied. "But I'll battle you all the same, if it makes you happy."

They moved apart, clearing a space as a makeshift battlefield. Kate clapped quietly and went to sit under a nearby tree. She sensed a hostile atmosphere here. It simply didn't fit, given the tranquillity of the current location. But nevertheless, this battle was sure to be good. Kantaris was crazy, though. If she won it would be a major achievement, given the state of her Pokémon.

"Seen as you're obviously too _weak_ for a full-scale battle," Ivan said, "we'll just have a three-on-three."

Lucky. Three Pokémon was all Kantaris had left. The others were way too tired to battle.

"You could make it a three-on-one, your advantage," Kantaris replied, "and I'd still beat you. Quality over quantity."

Ignoring her comment, Ivan threw in his first Pokémon silently. It was a newly evolved Croconaw. It looked just as boisterous as it had as a Totodile, only tougher. In return, Kantaris called out Stella who had retreated to her Pokéball due to fatigue. Stella emerged with a plainly audible yawn. Kantaris blushed again.

"Stella, Thunder attack!" Kantaris yelled.

Stella's aim was off. Croconaw dodged the attack easily and began to dance on the spot.

"Slash attack!" Ivan ordered. "No, wait…that's a Normal attack…damn, that won't work…"

"Shadow Ball!"

Kate widened her eyes in mild surprise. Maybe Kantaris could win this after all. And besides…what kind of trainer tries to use Normal attacks against Ghosts? The Shadow Ball attack hit its opponent full on. Croconaw spiralled backwards and landed in a heap at its trainer's feet. To Kantaris' annoyance, it got up, still raring to go.

"Bite attack, Croconaw!"

"Oh, shit," Kantaris muttered. _Dark kicks Ghost's ass._

And it sure did. With one final yelp, Stella went down. Kantaris held her head in anguish. She hated to see her best Pokémon (and friend) faint, especially at the hands of…_Never mind. Get on with it._

"Go, Staryu!" she exclaimed with renewed fire in her voice. "Spin Tackle!"

Almost as soon as it had been released, Staryu leapt into the air and performed an impressive and rapid Spin Tackle that hit its opponent in the face a few times before returning like a boomerang. Croconaw growled weakly.

"Slash attack!" Ivan commanded.

"Dodge it with another Spin Tackle!"

Staryu avoided the powerful-looking Slash attack and flew round in another Spin Tackle, catching Croconaw in the back of the head.

"Now finish it off with a Swift attack, Staryu!"

Still dazed from the last hit, Croconaw didn't make any move to evade the Swift attack (although any attempt to dodge it wouldn't have worked anyway). It wasn't very powerful, but it was enough to take Croconaw's last ounce of strength. Ivan called his Pokémon back with a grimace. Kantaris concealed a sigh of relief behind a smirk._ Two Pokémon apiece now_, she said silently._ We're on equal terms._

"I'm gonna be predictable and use Eevee," Ivan said casually, throwing in Eevee's Pokéball.

Kantaris twitched. Her own Eevee had collapsed in Rock Tunnel and to make matters worse, her opponent's Eevee looked stronger than hers. There would be no mercy here.

"Water Gun, Staryu," she muttered.

"Sand Attack."

The vigorous Sand Attack completely doused Staryu's Water Gun and the Water Gun even assisted the Sand Attack, making the sand heavier and stickier. Staryu staggered around on the spot as if blinded, its central jewel matted with sand.

"Swift!" Kantaris yelled, choosing the only attack that she knew to have infallible accuracy.

Eevee turned heel and tried to run from the attack. It was a fast runner, but the shower of stars caught up with it and knocked it to the ground.

"Spin Tackle, Staryu!" Kantaris exclaimed as Eevee rose to its feet.

Staryu launched another Spin Tackle, sending clumps of sand flying in all directions as it spun through the air. Unfortunately the attack missed as Eevee gracefully leapt to the side.

"Quick Attack, Eevee," ordered its trainer calmly.

The Quick Attack was perfectly timed. It hit just as Staryu was landing from its Spin Tackle; it was unavoidable and surprisingly strong. Staryu collapsed on the spot. Kantaris started to hyperventilate.

"Two against one, Kantaris," Ivan whispered, adding to her unrest. "You're losing."

And Kantaris didn't have any choice. She had only one Pokémon left. One that she had never used before. Her hand hovered over its Pokéball nervously and she glanced at Kate although she didn't know why: since when did she need Kate's opinion or permission to do something?

"No," Kate whispered.

"I have to," Kantaris whispered back desperately.

Taking a few steps back as she did so, Kantaris went for it and pushed the button on the Pokéball that held Tempest, her Zapdos. It emerged with such vigour that Kantaris fell back onto the ground. Tempest hovered above her and gave her an evil eye. Kantaris swallowed hard but firmly pointed towards the battle field.

"Tempest," she said, "I'm your trainer and you're gonna fight for me."

Surprisingly, Tempest left her alone and flew up into the air. Kantaris narrowly missed being hit by one of its wings as she got up and dusted herself off.

"Well, well, well," Ivan said with a smile, staring at the Zapdos. "Looks like I won't have to frisk you after all. Damn, Kantaris! How did you manage to catch this thing? And in a Pokéball?"

"Just…skill…" she replied breathlessly. "Something that you…wouldn't know about."

"I gotta admit, I'm impressed."

"You can't win this battle now." Despite her fatigue, Kantaris laughed. "You can't."

Ivan glared at her.

"We'll see."

"You think you can beat a Zapdos with your bunch of amateurs?" Kantaris laughed again, this time in scorn. "Okay, Tempest: Thunder attack!"

Tempest rose higher into the air with a loud battle cry and began to fly around in circles, swooping and diving and generally making a show of itself. Kantaris cringed.

"I'm still waiting for the Thunder attack," she said nervously.

To her horror, Tempest merely gave her another evil look as it flew past. It perched on the top of the hill, above the entrance to Rock Tunnel, and spread its wings in a triumphant pose. It stayed there like some glorious statue.

"Great Pokémon you got there," Ivan commented. "I see you have perfect control over it."

"He's just getting warmed up!" Kantaris snapped, her cheeks burning. "Enough messing around, Tempest! Show me a Sky Attack!"

Tempest began to preen its golden feathers, taking no notice of Kantaris whatsoever.

"No!" she hissed. "Don't do this to me! Not now!"

Nothing.

"Tempest!" she yelled. "_Come on!_"

"Ha!" Ivan exclaimed victoriously. "Well, isn't that ironic? Looks like Zapdos knows better than to listen to some cheap ghetto wannabe like you."

"This battle isn't over yet!" Kantaris screamed.

"Why? You don't have any more Pokémon. That thing ain't gonna listen to you." He smothered a laugh. "Just forfeit."

Despite herself, Kantaris looked to Kate desperately yet again. To her dismay, Kate frowned and shook her head. It was a no-win situation.

"Fine," Kantaris muttered furiously, her blood pounding in her ears, "there. You beat me. You got your revenge. Now can you _please_ leave me alone?"

"Ah, we'll have to see about that, won't we?" Ivan replied with a wink. He crossed the 'battlefield' and held out his hand. "Give me the money, honey."

Kantaris fished into her pockets and pulled out half of what she had. It wasn't much. The trainers in Rock Tunnel had been stingy with their cash rewards.

"Now that's not very nice," Ivan said, pocketing the money and holding his hand out for more.

"It's all I have!" Kantaris snapped as she called Tempest back to its Pokéball.

"Empty your pockets, then."

She reluctantly emptied both of her pockets and turned them out. Luckily she'd put her gun into her bag (or maybe that was unlucky). Ivan snatched the other half of her loot.

"Don't lie to me again," he muttered threateningly, "or else I really will get mad."

"You can't do that!" Kantaris cried as he walked away. "What am I meant to do for cash, huh?"

He carried on, not even looking back. Kantaris was glad that she couldn't see his face. She imagined that he was laughing.

"Ivan!" she yelled. "Give me my money back! Don't make me come after you, dammit!"

Kate grabbed her by the shoulders and held her back.

"Calm down," she said, rubbing Kantaris' arms reassuringly. "You won't need any money for now, will you?"

"Of course I need money!" Kantaris snapped.

"You'll manage until we get into Celadon. There's nothing to spend money on here in Lavender anyway." Kate linked arms with her and led her down the pathway towards Lavender Town. "If you need any money, I can lend it to you. Don't worry about it."

"You can't just take somebody's money like that!" Kantaris was still furious. Okay, so she'd done a lot worse things than ripping trainers off after battles…but the injustice of it was _different_ now that she'd experienced it for herself.

"Yeah, that was a little mean," Kate agreed. "How did you end up meeting a guy like that?"

"He sort of…ran into me. He thinks he's my rival."

"Ah. I see."

"He pisses me off."

"I imagine so."

Kantaris called Tempest back vehemently.

"Well…he's overstepped the mark. If it's a rival he wants, it's a rival he'll get. Now it's personal."


	11. The Flip Side

**DISCLAIMER:** I don't own Pokémon or any of its characters, place names, etc. The only characters I own here are the lovely Samara Kantaris (or rather, she owns me...hehehe) and her 'rival' Ivan...and Kate Roscoe too. I guess Stella's mine as well, you could say. And Team Rocket's Brianne, who is back in this chapter after a fleeting mention earlier on. None of the other characters are mine (although I heartily wish I owned Lance and Giovanni, but unfortunately I don't...)

**AUTHOR'S NOTE**: Hey, has everyone died on me? LOL. Sorry. I'm _so_ impatient. I take weeks, even months to post a new chapter and I get edgy if I don't get any reviews. Typical me. Ignore, please. Hehe.

I quite like this chapter, if I do say so myself. The title is significant because a few weird things happen ('The Flip Side' was a horror/supernatural story that I read ages ago), and also because you get to see a glimpse of 'the flip side' of Kantaris' character. You also get to see my bad attempt at writing suspense/horror stuff. Other attractions at this stage include sexual innuendo (you can judge the amount, lol) and a teeny bit of violence. Things are hotting up.

"Enjoy, enjoy," she says, as a lone tumbleweed blows across the plains...

* * *

Kate..." Kantaris was looking out of the window of their hotel room. "What's that place over there?"

Kate shoved her bag in the wardrobe. There was no point in unpacking. They weren't going to be staying in Lavender Town for long anyway. They had decided that they would leave the next day after all: Kantaris didn't want to run into Ivan again, and she wanted to get her next badge so that Tempest might start listening to her. Despite this, Kantaris had insisted on emptying her bag out over her bed as she usually did. No doubt when the time came for them to leave for Celadon City, she would take hours over finding all of her stuff and cramming it back into her bag again, during which time she would complain dramatically about 'being rushed'.

"What place?" Kate asked, going over to the window. She was just glad that Kantaris had finally gotten over losing all of her money.

"That place." Kantaris was pointing at the tall, old-looking tower at the far side of town.

"Pokémon Tower," Kate replied, "looking the same as it did three years ago."

"What's in there?"

"Graves. Pokémon graves. And ghosts as well." This short, blunt answer was all that Kate wished to give, which was unusual for her.

"As in Ghost Pokémon?"

"No, as in ghosts _of _Pokémon." Kate shivered. She was a lot of things, but she wasn't a skeptic when it came to ghosts. In fact, she was quite gullible. And she'd heard stories. Neither was she brave. The thought of ghosts – even Pokémon ghosts – terrified her.

"You mean it's haunted? Awesome!"

"I wouldn't say it was haunted...just...filled with memories and things," Kate said in an attempt to calm her own racing heart. "People go there to pay respect to departed souls of Pokémon."

Kate eventually came to greatly regret answering Kantaris' question. That night she was roughly shaken awake from a rather pleasant dream. She opened her eyes and almost screamed: Kantaris was standing over her bed, her face lit up eerily with a torch under her chin. She looked dead.

"Kantaris...! You look really creepy!" Kate whispered.

"Creepy is good!" Kantaris exclaimed, pulling the covers off Kate's bed with her free hand. She then proceeded to dance around the room making ghost noises. "Come on, Drowzee-head Kate. Get up."

"Get up? Why? What time is it?"

"Midnight! Mwahahaha!" Kantaris giggled hysterically. "Nah. It's two o'clock."

"Ssh, you're gonna wake the whole hotel up!" Kate cringed. "Can I please ask why you're getting me up at two in the morning? Is it urgent?"

"Sure it is. We're going to the Tower."

Kate turned pale. She sat up and glanced out of the window. Lavender Town was deathly still. Its outskirts were bathed in the pale glow of moonlight. The shadow of Pokémon Tower seemed to engulf most of the town. The Tower itself just looked black, like some massive cardboard cutout. Black, empty...scary...

But Kantaris was obviously serious. She grabbed her jacket with a whoop and ran out of the room. Kate could hear her thundering down the corridor as she went, as if she was literally bouncing off the walls. She wondered if she was on drugs. But whether Kantaris was high or not, Kate couldn't let her go careening through the streets of Lavender alone at this time of night. She'd wake the entire town up. Ignoring the bad feeling in the pit of her stomach, Kate got up, pulled some clothes on over her nightgown and ran after her.

Kantaris had scaled the wall surrounding the tower grounds and was now dancing around in the foyer, which was where Kate found her.

"Kantaris!" she hissed. "You're crazy!"

Kantaris burst out laughing.

"I'm serious!" Kate exclaimed. "Come on, let's go. I don't like it here."

"Hush!" Kantaris stopped dancing all of a sudden and looked deadly serious. She held the torch up and Kate blinked in the harsh light. "Do you hear that?"

"Hear what?" Kate's heart was pounding so hard, it hurt.

"_That!_"

"I don't hear anything…"

"Ssh…there it is again!"

Sounding panicky, Kantaris moved the torch away and shone it around the room randomly, illuminating countless graves. Kate wished that she wouldn't. She couldn't see Kantaris anymore but she could hear her breathing. It was getting faster and faster. The torch movements were erratic and jerky. She was scared.

"Kantaris?"

"Ha, ha!" Kantaris shone the torch back on her own face again and blew a raspberry. "Scared ya!"

With another hoot, Kantaris ran off towards the stairwell. Almost crying with fear, Kate followed her. Before she could make it to the top of the stairs, she heard a scream.

"Kantaris! Stop fooling around!" she pleaded.

As she reached the top of the stairs, Kate saw what Kantaris was screaming about. The room was teeming with Gastlies and Haunters.

"It's okay," Kantaris said breathlessly, clutching the left side of her chest as if she was having a heart attack. "Only Pokémon."

The light fixtures were swinging from the ceiling and the large window at the far side of the room was lacking in glass, from the looks of things. From there, they could see out over Lavender, open countryside, Fuschia City...even to the Seafoam Islands in the distance. It would have been a spectacular view to look at if they hadn't been feeling so edgy.

"We should go before we get attacked," Kate whispered. "I don't have any Pokémon with me."

"Neither do I."

It was as if the Gastlies and Haunters had heard this. They stopped their random flying around and turned on Kate and Kantaris.

"Oh, shit," Kantaris muttered.

The Ghost Pokémon started to advance upon them. They backed away. Suddenly there was a bright light which made them both cover their eyes. The two girls were so petrified, they couldn't even scream. They simultaneously jumped towards each other and held each other, too scared to speak.

"You..."

They opened their eyes to see that the Ghost Pokémon were all gone. There was something standing there in front of them. They were relieved to find that it wasn't a ghost, but a real live human woman, dressed in a long, black, hooded cloak that covered most of her face. They could tell that she was female from her voice (although it was so quiet, it was barely audible) and from the glimpses of her face that they could see. They couldn't see her eyes because of the hood, but somehow they both knew that she was addressing Kantaris.

"You have promise," the figure said in a voice barely above a whisper. "Potential. You are destined for great things."

"M-me?" Kantaris stammered.

The woman was heard to sigh sadly, almost painfully.

"But you have to change," she said. "You have to choose the right path."

"I've chosen my path already."

"It's not compatible yet. Not at all. You have to change."

"I...I don't know what you mean. Change...like, how?"

"Let go of the past."

"Who are you?" Kantaris asked, letting go of Kate. "Some kind of soothsayer?"

"You will see."

"What? When?"

"You will see. We will meet again soon...Miss Kantaris."

Kantaris' jaw dropped.

"Oh, no, no, _no_!" she said. "No way. No fortunetellers, man. This shit is creepier than any ghost."

"Then you shouldn't have come," the mysterious woman said.

"I know," Kate said, taking Kantaris by the shoulder and turning her back towards the stairwell. "We're sorry. We're leaving."

"Don't apologize for her," the woman said, walking (_drifting?_) backwards into the shadows. "It's her nature. It will get her into trouble. But it will get her far."

The two girls went back to the hotel solemnly and in silence.

"Hope you're happy," Kate said, jumping back into bed, "now that you've succeeded in scaring me half to death."

"You're not the one who's just been lectured by some weirdo!" Kantaris was staring out towards the tower, her face blank.

"At least she said good things, though." Kate was too tired to be angry. Anger didn't come easily to her.

"I guess they'd be good if I'd known what the hell she was going on about." Kantaris yawned. "Change? Me? Ha. I ain't changing for nothing or nobody."

The next day, after Kantaris had spent half an hour rushing around after items of clothing that she'd misplaced, they made their way to the underground that connected Lavender Town and Celadon City. They were only too glad to get away from Lavender Town. It wasn't looking so pretty and quiet anymore.

Kantaris' idea had been all along that she was going to go and see Giovanni (_oh, and Team Rocket as well, I guess_) once she was back in Celadon or Saffron, whichever she came to first. Kate said that they were going to get a train to Celadon, bypassing Saffron City. Kantaris hadn't counted on having a traveling companion, though. So, whilst walking, she started to formulate a plot in her mind about how she could lose Kate, just for a while.

They got the train and it came to Celadon City's underground station. Attempts at directing Kate towards the shopping mall failed, so Kantaris resorted to diving amongst crowds, purposefully leaving her behind.

Having finally shaken Kate off her trail, Kantaris burst into the Rocket Amusement Corner, dressed in full uniform, and clattered her way down the hidden stairway in the back room into the underground basement. She ran past countless Rockets, gazing at each one briefly. They looked up but didn't acknowledge her. Just as she was beginning to wonder why, she ran smack into one of her old flatmates, Brianne.

"Well, well," Brianne remarked, giving Kantaris a half-hearted high five. "The wanderer returns."

"Brianne, you little rebel...what the hell are you doing here in Celadon?"

"I live here. Have you forgotten already?"

"But…we always used to work in Saffron!"

"Well, I work here now, duh," Brianne replied. "Ain't much work for Rockets in Saffron these days. I can't believe you even _remember _where we used to work, seen as you spent more time _slacking off_ in Viridian City than you did working. And we can't all afford to go gallivanting around Kanto like you."

By now a small crowd of Rockets had gathered, glad of the interruption to their usual work.

"Shame," Kantaris said with a smirk whilst adjusting her cap. "It's a nice place."

"Hmph. So, wanderer, how's it going? You caught anything yet?"

"Have I _caught_ anything?" Kantaris laughed. "Too many to count!"

"More importantly," another Rocket said, "have you _stolen_ anything?"

"Um..." Kantaris looked away and blushed. "A few things. Nothing big, though."

"Why not? The Boss won't be very pleased to hear that. He'll be disappointed. 'Kantaris always delivers'...isn't that right?"

More laughter. Kantaris herself giggled, even though she knew that her teammates were making fun of her yet again. Her mind went back to a certain incident that had taken place roughly a year ago. Team Rocket had nearly lost that base and more. It had almost been in that very spot, in fact…

* * *

Having fought his way onto the bottom floor of the basement, the lone Pokémon Defense League ranger was out of Pokémon. But the Rockets didn't know that. He'd already taken out more than half of the guards, and that was all they knew. It was all they needed to know to confirm that he was strong. They didn't put up a fight. They merely glared at him as he went past. He was in control, but for effect he drew his gun and forced all of the Rockets into one corner. That way, they'd be easier to deal with later. Right now he had bigger things on his mind. Just as he was about to carry on searching, he caught sight of her.

She stuck out like a sore thumb amongst the crowd of Rockets that he'd rounded up. She was dressed in black, so she could have been a Rocket. But everything else about her told him otherwise. Firstly, she looked far too young. She was no seasoned criminal. But most importantly, she looked upset. She was even crying. Her beseeching eyes locked onto his, and he immediately felt sorry for her.

"A hostage," he whispered.

Standing amongst the throng of her teammates, Kantaris smiled in her mind. Her tears were genuine – she hated it when Team Rocket was in trouble. But he thought she was a hostage! Perfect. So she played it up. She started to sob, making her lower lip tremble dramatically. The PDL ranger fell for it, hook, line and sinker. This was all the confirmation he needed. He knelt down, keeping his gun trained on the rest of the Rockets, and held out his hand. He beckoned Kantaris and said,

"Come on, honey. I'm gonna get you out of here."

The other Rockets knew what was going on. They didn't even have to exchange glances. They all went along with Kantaris' plan, eyeing her maliciously as she slipped out of their grasp to be 'rescued'. They weren't armed. None of them were. For them, the Rocket Amusement Corner was their most secure base. It was the only place where they didn't need to carry weapons around with them. They'd been so sure that it would never be found. They merely dismissed it as a lesson for the future and let Kantaris work her magic.

As he led her away, Kantaris noticed that he wasn't heading towards the exit. He was going further into the base. Instead of tackling him there and then, she let him carry on out of sheer curiosity. He was only leading himself further into trouble anyway. All she had to do was yell and the rest of the Rockets would come running. She wouldn't even need their help. Then he started asking her questions gently. Kantaris merely sniveled and shook her head as if she didn't know the answers or as if she were too shaken to reply. Then the ranger stopped in his tracks. He faced Kantaris and placed his hands on her arms reassuringly.

"Look, kid," he said. "I know this is tough…but I have a job to do here, understand? I wanna make sure you're safe, but I can't leave here until I've dealt with Team Rocket."

Kantaris nodded silently, a mask of naivety and wide-eyed fear over her face.

"Can you help me out?" the ranger asked. "I'm looking for Team Rocket's leader. Can you tell me where he is? That's all I wanna know."

Kantaris stared at him, then at the gun in his hand. Oh, so _that _was his plan, was it? No more Miss Nice Girl. A fire started in her eyes, but her facial expression remained the same. She nodded and the PDL ranger took the bait. He leant in closer.

"He's here somewhere," she whispered.

"Here? On this floor? How do you know?"

Because…" Kantaris leant over to whisper in his ear. "I'm his girl."

Unfortunately she couldn't see the look of surprise on his face that followed as she brought her knee up into his stomach as hard as she could. He dropped the gun. She followed this up with a sharp back-fist to his temple. It was strong enough to knock him down, but not quite strong enough to knock him out. She should have used a knife-hand chop instead. Oh, well. While he was on the floor, semi-conscious, she put one foot on his chest, pinning him down. As she did so, her jacket fell open and all traces of innocence faded from her face. The ranger's gaze traveled up slowly…from her black boots to her spotless Team Rocket uniform…to her pretty face, tainted by a wicked little smile.

"You picked the wrong girl to ask, _honey_," she whispered. "There are some Rockets here who probably would have told you where you can find the Boss. But I'm not one of them."

"You're a Rocket?" He looked to be in complete shock. "But…you're just a kid!"

"Age doesn't come into this, buster. I'm a Rocket, and a damn good one."

"Oh. In that case…"

Kantaris didn't see him reaching for the gun before it was too late. She gasped as he threw her off and knocked her down with one hit. He held her down on the floor with her arms pinned behind her back. She struggled furiously until she heard the sound of the gun being cocked at the back of her head. It was close. She'd felt it brush against her hair.

"Tell me where your Boss is," the PDL ranger ordered, "and I'll let you go."

"Fuck you," Kantaris muttered.

"Last chance, Rocket! Talk, or I'll shoot!"

"You don't have the guts."

"Don't try my patience."

To his surprise, Kantaris laughed.

"You'll have to kill me!"

"What? Why?" He shook her a little. "Why don't you just tell me?"

"Because I'm loyal. I'm also expendable. I can be replaced." She continued to laugh. "_My_ death won't mean the end of Team Rocket."

"You'd give your life for this…this _gang?_"

"For Team Rocket? No. For my Boss."

Kantaris thought that this was the end. She closed her eyes and waited. But suddenly the weight was lifted from her arms and she heard the PDL ranger running off.

"Not even man enough to carry out his threat," she muttered, climbing to her feet. "He'll regret that."

Her temper ignited, Kantaris dusted herself off, reached into her pocket and pulled out her black cap. She pulled it down onto her head so that it shadowed her eyes. If she was gonna deal with this guy, she might as well look the part. She then ran to the stock room, snatched a pistol from the shelf and loaded it. She set about wandering the corridors, looking for the intruder. He couldn't hide from her. He was a goner. She'd never killed anyone before but if Giovanni ordered her to do away with this guy, she would. Suddenly the alarms sounded. Someone had broken into the Boss's office. Stricken with panic, Kantaris sprinted to the office. Sure enough, the PDL ranger was standing in the doorway. He still had the gun in his hand.

Kantaris wasted no time. She silently sneaked up behind the ranger and gripped him in a headlock. She was small, but she was also strong. And she was armed.

"Tisk, tisk," she whispered. "I do believe we have a would-be assassin. Am I right?"

She reached round quickly and pulled the gun from his hand. As she did so, he broke free from her grasp. No matter. She pushed him back with a kick before he could attack her. Then she advanced upon him with two firearms and he backed into the office with his hands up. She couldn't help but laugh. This was so _easy_.

"Not you again," the ranger muttered.

"I see you've met my star." Still sitting at his desk, Giovanni hadn't raised a finger. He watched the situation with a look of mild intrigue. "She's great, don't you think?"

Kantaris smiled sweetly.

"You flatter me, Sir," she said coyly with a brief flutter of her eyelashes.

"She's just a kid," the ranger said, eyeing Kantaris in bewilderment. "You're recruiting _kids?_"

"And yet she managed to get the better of you. That's saying something." Giovanni turned to Kantaris and said, "Good job. As per usual."

"I always deliver," Kantaris replied with a not-so-meek wink at her Boss.

Just then, the rest of the Rockets arrived at the door. Kantaris didn't turn round to see them, but she saw the look on the ranger's face. His number was up and he knew it. _That's what you get for being a vigilante._

"You want I should get rid of him, Boss?" Kantaris asked, eager to prove herself in front of her teammates (even if it meant murder).

"No. Let someone else do it," Giovanni replied. "I wouldn't have you dirtying your hands, Kantaris."

"Thank you, Sir," she said obediently with a small curtsey.

The other Rockets entered the office and seized the ranger. Kantaris smartly tossed the guns up into the air, caught them and put them into her belt, old-Western style. As the ranger was dragged away, he turned to Kantaris and said,

"I won't forget this."

She raised her eyebrows.

"I assure you that you shall."

* * *

"Well? Come on, Kantaris, why've you given up stealing Pokémon?"

"It's different now that I'm a trainer!" Kantaris tried to brush it off. "You wouldn't understand. I just find it hard to do these days. Besides, I'm traveling with someone."

"Really? Who?"

"Some girl." Kantaris didn't want to drag Kate into this conversation too much. "She's done the Gym Challenge before, thought she'd come in useful."

"You're really on the Gym Challenge?" someone asked.

"Yep," Kantaris replied proudly.

"You haven't given up yet?"

"Nope."

"Let's see your badges, then," Brianne said dubiously, folding her arms.

Kantaris, ever the attention seeker, was only too happy to oblige with Brianne's request. She undid the belt on her leather jacket and opened it. She'd moved her three badges from the outside breast pocket to the inside lining where they would be more safe. Her teammates had mixed reactions. Some looked to be in awe. Others didn't believe that they badges were genuine – they'd seen enough fakes. A few made general sounds of bitterness and jealousy and walked off. Brianne exchanged knowing glances with two other Rockets and they laughed.

"Tell me, Kantaris," Brianne said in between sniggers, "did you actually battle for those? Or did you just sleep with the Gym Leaders?"

A fresh ripple of laughter made its way through the small crowd at Brianne's remark. Kantaris didn't take it too hard. She was accustomed to comments like that by now. She used to get them everyday before she left on the Gym Challenge. She fastened her jacket, put her hands in her pockets and waited for the laughter to die down. Then she replied calmly,

"No, I worked for them. Like everyone else does."

"That's more than can be said for your Team Rocket paychecks!" somebody yelled from far off.

There was even more laughter. Kantaris didn't mind them joking about _that_, if it kept them amused. No harm done. But nevertheless, she glanced in the direction of Giovanni's office worriedly. She was sure that _he_ would mind if he heard that his Rockets were taking a break to pick on his beloved confidante who'd returned after weeks of absence...

"Don't worry," Brianne said, reading Kantaris' mind. "He ain't here."

Kantaris' face fell.

"He's not?"

"Nope. He's at the Gym," someone answered. "Thought you'd know that. Aren't you the one who knows his schedule off by heart?"

"Don't tell me you came back here just to see the Boss," Brianne said, rolling her eyes. "How desperate can you get? The Gym Challenge must be a nightmare if you're taking time out just for him."

"No!" Kantaris exclaimed indignantly. "I came to earn the Rainbowbadge at the Celadon City Gym. And don't talk about Gi...don't talk about the Boss like that."

"Well, um...the Gym's out that way." Brianne pointed back over Kantaris' shoulder towards the door and smiled falsely. "Good luck, Kantaris. Shall I tell Sir that you called?"

Kantaris swatted her hand away.

"Hang on, hang on," she said irritably. "You know, you guys are _so_ mean! I come back after all this time and this is the welcome I get?"

The Rockets murmured amongst themselves.

"Haven't you guys got _work_ to do?" Kantaris said, glaring at her teammates in an authoritarian manner and placing her hands on her hips.

"Ooh, listen to Little Miss High And Mighty!" someone said.

"No change there, then," said another.

But they heeded her order and went back to what they'd been doing before. Kantaris was impressed. At least they'd remembered where she stood. She ignored them now and took Brianne aside. They walked down the corridor slowly.

"So," Kantaris said, "what's new on Planet Rocket?"

"Nothing. This job sucks ass, man. Ain't worth the pay."

Kantaris drew in her breath sharply and glanced back over her shoulder at the closed office door.

"What now?" Brianne cried. "Why are you so paranoid?"

"Weren't you...weren't we meant to be doing something at Mount Moon?" Kantaris asked, ignoring the question.

"Yeah, like, we _were_...but we got busted and moved out."

"They have cops at Mount Moon now?"

"Not cops, dumbass. PDL rangers."

"The Pokémon Defense League?" Kantaris shuddered. "They get around these days."

"Yep, and things are going downhill fast around here."

"Ah, that's because the Boss is missing the evil genius of one Miss Samara 'Team Rocket' Kantaris," she said with a wink, tapping her forehead.

"Well, he's missing _something_, although I'm sure it's not your 'evil genius'."

"I told you he needs me."

"He _needs_ you? You wish, honey. Anyway, be off with you. Go get your badge. Or you could even make yourself useful and catch some rare Pokémon for the team, instead."

"Aw, I don't wanna go yet! I miss you guys!" Kantaris whined.

"Yeah, well, we don't miss you stealing our bonuses." Brianne pushed her towards the door. "Go on, Kantaris. Get lost."

"Me? Stealing bonuses? Never." Kantaris saw a chance for provocation here, so she took it. "You've got it the wrong way round. It's not that I get bonuses for what I _do_. The things that I do _are_ my bonuses. I'm actually saving Team Rocket some money! I can settle for other forms of payment."

"_Kantaris!_ I don't even wanna _know!_" Brianne shook her head. "I dunno why me and Sasha ever agreed to split that flat three-ways with you. You should have paid double what we paid, 'cos it's a fact that you get paid twice as much as any other Rocket Grunt round here."

"I can't help it if I'm _good_, Brianne."

"Good? Ha. Exactly. Good at _what_, though?"

Kantaris widened her eyes in mock innocence. Brianne glared back, not falling for it. Eventually, Kantaris couldn't stand the silence.

"Well, you know..." she said quietly and seriously with a delicate shrug. "Petty thievery."

Brianne burst out laughing.

"Nice one, Kantaris. That's one of your best excuses yet." Brianne patted Kantaris on the back. "I'll let you off for that. And you wanna know why? Because you _are_ a good thief. That's undeniable. 'Petty thievery'…I gotta write that one down, man. Classic."

"Wow." Kantaris was astounded. "You know, that's the only compliment you've ever given me in...how long? Nearly four years?"

"Four? Is that all?" Brianne groaned. "For God's sake...I mean, just look at yourself! You don't look a day older than fifteen. And your eyes, your smile...! How the hell can you look so damn sweet and innocent and butter-wouldn't-melt? That's the only reason you're a good Rocket, Kantaris: you can work your way into any guy's pockets – and beyond – and he wouldn't suspect a thing. I bet you only have to smile at the Boss to get paid, right?"

_Not exactly,_ Kantaris replied silently. But she shrugged it off.

"Well, then!" She grinned, her ego having been fuelled. "Now you don't have to speculate over how I get my bonuses."

And with that, she practically skipped up the stairs.

"Oh, we _know_ how you get your goddamn bonuses, Kantaris!" Brianne shouted after her.

Kantaris, still all smiles, went back into the arcade upstairs and was shocked to find Kate sitting at one of the nearby fruit machines. _Wow, _Kantaris said to herself, _she's gambling. She's swelling the wealth of Team Rocket._

"What are you doing here?" Kantaris asked casually, walking over to Kate.

"Oh, I saw you come in." Kate winked at her. "Don't worry, Sam. I'm no telltale."

"You mean...?"

"Of course I know that this place belongs to Team Rocket," Kate replied quietly with a little laugh. "Couldn't they have found a more subtle name than 'Rocket Amusement Corner'?"

Kantaris blushed.

"How come you're spending money here, then?" she asked.

"Why not? It's fun!" Kate inserted another coin. "Tell your teammates that you brought me here and maybe you'll get commission or something. Do you get paid extra for things like that?"

"I shouldn't think so."

"You mean you don't get bonuses? That's harsh."

"Oh, we get bonuses…" Kantaris smiled secretively. "Well, _I_ do."

"For what?"

It was such an innocent question in itself, and yet any mention of 'Kantaris' and 'bonuses' in the same sentence during the past few years had provoked everything from knowing glances to ridiculing to full-blown arguments with her teammates. Kantaris had to stop herself from laughing.

"Well, you know…this and that."


	12. Confessions

**DISCLAIMER:** I don't own Pokémon or any of its characters, place names, etc. The only characters I own here are the lovely Samara Kantaris (or rather, she owns me...hehehe) and her 'rival' Ivan...and Kate Roscoe too. I guess Stella's mine as well, you could say. None of the other characters are mine (although I heartily wish I owned Lance and Giovanni, but unfortunately I don't...)

**AUTHOR'S NOTE**: Um…thanks for the anonymous review, whoever left that! I vow to carry on with TWINE (or at least TWINE: The Kanto Journeys, anyway)…by the way, in case you didn't know, I've revamped the other chapters because when I first started writing this, I didn't take it all too seriously and didn't put much effort into my writing. I've tried to improve it in places and I've also added a few things here and there.

Enjoy, y'all (if anyone's still alive out there).

* * *

"You wanna tell me somethin', Miss Kate?" Kantaris asked, annoyed.

For the past five minutes, Kantaris had been unsubtly glaring daggers at her friend. And this was due to the fact that, for the past five minutes, Kate had been looking Kantaris up and down with a mixture of intrigue and anxiety. Kantaris hated it when people stared at her with anything except admiration (it hadn't happened yet, but she was sure that it would someday).

The sudden question interrupted Kate's thoughts and made her jump. She didn't think Kantaris had noticed her staring. She waved her hand apologetically and turned her head, pretending to look away, but Kantaris wasn't fooled: she immediately folded her arms and gave Kate an icy glare. And it was a pretty powerful one. Kate couldn't help thinking that, had Kantaris been a Pokémon, she would have caused paralysis by now. That was some Glare attack.

"I'm sorry," Kate said finally. "I was just thinking."

"You might wanna try looking somewhere else when you're 'thinking', then. It's rude to stare."

"I couldn't help it. You're wearing your Team Rock–"

"Terribly sorry!" Kantaris said sarcastically. She glanced down at her clothes and pretended to be shocked. "I'll just _leave_, shall I?" She stood up and took her bag by its straps.

"Oh, no!" Kate laughed, but she could see that Kantaris was serious. "I wanna ask you something, actually. If you don't like my question,_ then_ you can leave."

Kantaris practically threw herself back down onto the barstool. It moved back a few inches and screeched horribly against the floor. She rolled her eyes, leaned back onto the bar and crossed her legs.

"Aren't you worried about being seen in a Team Rocket uniform?" Kate asked.

"No. You can't be arrested for how you dress." Kantaris laughed. "Was that your big question?"

"No, no, it wasn't. I wanted you to explain to me again: how did you end up in Team Rocket. What's the pull?"

"A roof over your head, people you can rely on, food, water, a bit of cash...stuff most people take for granted."

"But why seek it there, of all places?"

"I didn't seek it anywhere. It wasn't the 'pull' so much as the 'push'." Kantaris glanced up, a little guiltily. "I told you I left home when I was younger. I didn't mention that I was on the streets first. Until he...Team Rocket took me in."

"'He?'" Kate had to chase it up: she'd heard it.

Kantaris frowned. She hadn't meant to say that.

"Our Boss..." She lowered her voice and leaned across the bar. "If it weren't for him, I'd still be just another street urchin at best."

"And...does he do this with everyone? Taking them in, I mean?"

Kantaris hated to admit it; she scowled horribly as she said,

"Yeah. Mostly. Well, we – Rockets, that is – we find kids, and if they look desperate enough...we bring them back." Kantaris cracked her knuckles worriedly. "And that's that."

"The reason I asked is...I've heard things about Rockets." Kate sat back and shrugged. "You don't seem to fit the stereotype, that's all. I wasn't _staring_ at you, dear. I was just...mulling something over."

Kantaris placed both her palms in her lap and examined her fingers closely. She was avoiding eye contact, glancing around the bar. Finally she turned, put both hands face down on the bar with her fingers spread and looked Kate in the eye. With the openness of her hands, it was as if she was laying her cards out to be seen.

"Team Rocket means a lot to me," she said staunchly, as if she were expecting Kate to tease her for it. "I'm _attached_ in ways that other Rockets aren't. To them, it's just business as usual. Most of them hate it. But to me, it's my identity. That's why I can't believe you trust me." She winked playfully to let Kate know she meant no harm by her last sentence.

"Stealing? Smuggling?"

"And the rest, yes."

"It just doesn't seem like you!"

"My heart isn't in it sometimes," Kantaris admitted. It was true: she shut herself off emotionally every time she was out on a job for Team Rocket. She wasn't a very moral person by nature, but she did have a conscience when it came to attacking hapless trainers. No matter how much she suppressed it, it always came back at her later. "But I reap the benefits."

It was the benefits that kept her going. Little things that took her mind off what she really was: a criminal. Back when she was on the streets, she'd had a little gang. Now, it still hadn't sunk in, even after a few years, that she wasn't playing around with gangs anymore. Team Rocket was no gang. It was an international crime syndicate, the 'Pokemon Mafia', as people called it. Kantaris was a part of that. In some ways, it scared her and made her want to leave. If she got caught, she'd get a lot more than just an antisocial behaviour order. She'd be in serious trouble. But in some ways, that drove her on. Well, Kantaris couldn't deny that she was proud to be a Rocket, although she didn't know why.

"Pay must be good, then," Kate said. For a fleeting moment, Kantaris thought she might be considering joining. Then she brushed that thought away. It was stupid.

"Financially? Hardly!" Kantaris took out a cigarette and lit it. "When I was living here in Celadon, it took three of us to be able to keep up the rent on a disgusting little flat in the red light district. And we got our food by stealing, or at work. Once you choose a life like that, it's hard knocks all the way, really, or at least until you get a lucky break if you ever do. But, as I said, there are benefits. I came for the money, but I stay for…" Her voice trailed off.

She thought that she'd found love in amongst all of the lawbreaking and trouble-causing. She even considered that, one day, she'd be Queen of it all. Then she wouldn't have to roam the streets and go scrounging around for Pokémon. She'd live like Giovanni did: rich, carefree and glamorous. Such was the life at the top. Okay, so it was also a lonely life. But once Kantaris had finished with the Gym Challenge, she would go back to Team Rocket as her Boss's worthy equal and partner, not just some minion. There wouldn't have to be any loneliness.

"Is that what motivates you? The rewards?"

"Motivates me?" Kantaris awoke from her daydream. "No, I'm just doing my duty. I...I like to stay on the Boss's good side. I feel that everything I do, every little job, everything he asks of me, I owe it to him. I would go across the country on hands and knees with a fine-toothed comb if I had to. And I wouldn't begrudge him anything. That's what sets me apart from most Rockets. That's why I stay, Kate. Not for any amount of money. I'll stay with Team Rocket until the end, whatever that end may be."

She was shocked at how open she was being. It was totally out of character. But she felt that she could trust Kate, and that she should. After all, Kate put trust in her, and trusting a self-confessed Rocket was no easy feat.

"Can I ask you something else?" Kate asked after thinking over what Kantaris had just said. She had seen her friend's eyes glaze over just then, and the look of pure devotion on her face as she spoke, and it worried her a little.

"Go on." Kantaris sat back, more at ease now. She was slouching. One of her arms casually lay across her middle and the other held the remains of her cigarette, dropping ash onto the floor.

"I know you won't tell me who your Boss is, and fair enough – "

"That's not a question." Kantaris grinned involuntarily as she always did whenever anyone mentioned her Boss.

"Is he just your Boss? And are you just another Rocket? Or does it go deeper than that? Is there something more?" Kate launched her tirade of questions before Kantaris had the chance to interrupt again.

Kantaris smiled a tiny smile and shook her head gently, signaling that she would not reply. She tossed her cigarette stub over her shoulder into the ashtray. Gazing around the bar, she smirked. This was one of her hotspots, or at least it had been when she'd first joined Team Rocket. She'd come in here almost nightly for the sole purpose of leading dull-witted guys into traps with the same 'sweetness' and 'innocence' that Brianne had been talking about. The bar was pretty empty now. Kantaris thought that she'd probably cleared all the regular punters out anyway. More fool them for falling for her tricks. _Wow,_ she thought. _I'm perfect for Team Rocket. No wonder he loves me. And no wonder the others are jealous._

"Tell me again, Miss Kantaris: how old are you?" Kate asked, changing her tone of voice. She sounded like a therapist.

"Seventeen."

Kate was more worried than she had been before. Nobody outside Team Rocket knew who the leader of the organization was. Kate wasn't even that curious about knowing, which was unusual but true. But she had _heard_ things. Years ago, before she was born, Team Rocket had apparently been led by a mystery female, their original founder. The general consensus now was that the current leader of Team Rocket was the son of this woman. But Kate had been around for nearly twenty years. She'd been brought up in a very open-minded environment, hence her complete tolerance, but had always been fully aware of the existence of Team Rocket as a criminal organization. And during her lifetime, they'd always been led by a man (according to what people said). So Kate's first conclusion was that Team Rocket's Boss, if it was still the same guy, had to be much older than Kantaris, probably old enough to be her father. And hadn't Kantaris mentioned that she had a boyfriend? A Gym Leader? Did he know about this?

But Kate wasn't the type of person to judge on things like that. What worried her were the _other_ things she'd heard about Team Rocket's Boss. Whether they were true or not was debatable but she could imagine that there was some truth behind the things she'd heard. Mob bosses weren't renowned for being compassionate.

Now Kate found herself staring at Kantaris again. But this time, Kantaris didn't notice. She was staring off to her right absentmindedly, a freshly lit cigarette posed gracefully in her left hand. The spotlights from above the dance floor swirled over her face. She looked to be deep in thought. Kate swallowed hard.

"When you said you were 'attached' to Team Rocket, what did you mean?"

"Hmm?" Kantaris snapped back to reality. She'd obviously been in a world of her own for the past few seconds.

"Kantaris, is there anything...? Do you...? What's the deal with you and your Boss?"

The color in Kantaris' cheeks rose and she looked somewhat surprised.

"Why do you ask?"

"I don't want you to think I'm being nosy. I'm just worried, that's all."

This grabbed Kantaris' attention. She was good and ready for a debate. Or did she want the conversation to end? She wasn't sure. She put her cigarette in the ashtray and stared at Kate challengingly.

"Worried?" she repeated. "Why?"

"Do you think you're in love?"

"What if I do?" Kantaris' voice hardened with the first showings of anger. She hadn't had much love in her life, so she was clinging to the few ideals that she had. She was guarded when it came to such things.

"Do you know what you're getting yourself into?"

"I know what you're gonna say," Kantaris said with a sigh, "because I've heard it before. You're gonna tell me I'm too young to know how I really feel, and that the age difference – "

"I had thought about that," Kate said truthfully. "But who am I to judge? No, it's the other stuff that worries me."

"Other stuff, huh? Enlighten me, seen as you obviously know so much more about this 'crush' of mine than I do."

"You're gonna get hurt!"

"How do _you_ know?" Kantaris asked, her eyes blazing.

"I've heard things! People say that he's cruel and – "

"Well, they'd say the same about me, don't you think? Because I'm a Rocket. That's all."

"Okay, okay…" Kate shook her head. "But I've heard stories as well. Yes, he takes you in, gives you a job, if you wanna call it that, but what of the ones who know too much and who want to leave? What about the Rockets who step out of line? Don't you know what he does to them, Samara? They get –"

"Killed? I know. I've seen it happen."

In the poor lighting, Kantaris saw Kate turn pale. She saw an opportunity to shock her into silence, so she took it and told her little story with no display of emotion.

"I was in the office. A Grunt comes in, not much older than me, protests about the job he's been put on and says that he'll never be able to get any Pokémon, not with the one he's been given. Then he starts going on...just ranting and stuff and saying that we don't know what we're doing and that he was better off working on his own. The Boss tells him that okay, he's off the job. Then he pulls a pistol out of his desk, points it and pulls the trigger."

"And you were standing there?"

"Me? Sure."

_I was on his other arm when he pulled the trigger. Of course I was there._

"And you couldn't have stopped it from happening?"

"Maybe. But I didn't. I couldn't! I wouldn't." Kantaris bit her lip nervously. "Yeah, it happens. There's only _one way_ to leave Team Rocket. Everyone knows that. Do you think I'm stupid or something?"

"Ah, so you admit you're not in love?" Kate said. Deep down, she was shocked by what she'd just heard. Her heart was thundering. But she didn't show it. She even smiled. At least Kantaris had a brain. At least she wasn't blind.

Kantaris blinked in surprise. This wasn't the reaction she'd expected. She was running out of things to say, and she'd just badmouthed her Boss and verified everything that Kate had heard.

"Kate!" she pleaded. "Just drop it, okay? You don't know him at all! You're not even a Rocket, and even if you were, that wouldn't count for anything. I know him better than anyone else in Team Rocket."

She realized the connotations of her last sentence, and she blushed even more. Kate noticed and it confirmed her suspicions. The shock that she'd been keeping under wraps came to the surface.

"Samara Kantaris!" Kate's jaw dropped, and she shook her head in disbelief. "He's terrible! He's a murderer!"

Kantaris rose to her feet and for a moment, she looked so furious that Kate was a little scared. But Kantaris simply threw her bag onto her back and left the bar with a disdainful toss of her head. Kate sighed in sheer exasperation and made after her.

"Sam!" she called. "I'm sorry!"

Kate sounded sorry, so Kantaris stopped walking. They were outside now, and it was a little windy. Kantaris' long black hair was blown across her face under her cap, streaking her defiant expression. She was sorry as well, but she wouldn't admit it verbally. She only ever apologized to Giovanni. But Kate seemed to be expecting something. Kantaris glanced up at the dark sky for a moment. Eventually she blurted out,

"I get teased."

"By who?" Kate thought she already knew the answer to the question 'For what?'

"The other Rockets. They gang up on me. They say that not one of my bonuses actually comes from stealing or anything...well." Kantaris shrugged.

"I guess they would," Kate replied delicately. "Favouritism doesn't go down well, no matter where you are. Affairs at work don't usually last. I'm not saying that yours won't last, but..."

_What am I saying?_ Kate thought._ I hope it doesn't last. I hope she sees sense._

"They used to call me names," Kantaris continued, "but deep down inside... I'd say they were just jealous."

Kate wasn't sure what to say. She gave an awkward half-smile and nodded a little.

"Cash is cash, no matter how you earn it, and kindness is kindness, no matter who it comes from," Kantaris said. "I hope you never get into such a desperate situation that you experience how true that is."

And she started to walk off.

"Kantaris!" Kate called to her back. "I…I really like you, you know? You're a good friend. And I want to see you succeed."

Kantaris stopped in her tracks and turned round. She looked at Kate and, devoid of emotion, she said,

"Nobody's ever said that to me before."

The next day, Kantaris made the long but scenic trip to the Celadon City Gym. It was a small, out of the way place down a winding, tree-lined lane. Its walls were covered with ivy and there were flowers in the windows. _Grass Pokémon,_ Kantaris realised._ It's gotta be. _She patted Quilava's Pokéball confidently. This was going to be a walk in the park. Literally.

Kantaris wasn't in the mood for underlings. She was never in the mood. Giovanni never had any underlings, so why should anyone else? But she found out by looking through the window that Celadon Gym did have underlings, and this annoyed her. So, when she brashly walked through the door, she placed her hands on her hips and immediately called,

"Erica? I'm here to challenge you for a Rainbowbadge."

The other trainers there looked rather taken aback. Kantaris was wearing one of her Rocket uniforms, too – the previous day's occurrences and conversations had put her firmly back into 'Rocket and proud' mode – and as they left the room, Erica's companions gave Kantaris dirty looks, turned up their noses and started muttering things like,

"Oh, it's another one from that awful amusement arcade…"

"Let's hope Erica sends her packing."

Kantaris ignored them. They'd be singing a different tune after she'd trounced their Gym Leader, which she was about to do. She stood at one end of the grassy battlefield, casually tossing Quilava's Pokéball up into the air and catching it again with a pronounced smirk on her face.

Erica was kneeling at the other side of the battlefield watering plants. Kantaris thought that she was kind of pretty, but moreover she looked like a weak trainer. Her clothes were all floaty and light and her expression was calm and sweet. She looked the opposite of Kantaris except for the fact that they both had black hair.

Sick of waiting, Kantaris was about to say something or at least cough noisily, but Erica knelt back, surveyed her plants for a moment and rose to her feet.

"I may not look much," she said slowly, turning to face her opponent, "but I am a good trainer."

"That remains to be seen," Kantaris replied, still smirking.

"You've come this far. You should know the ropes by now. The Gym Challenge doesn't get any easier. We are Gym Leaders for good reasons."

"Again, I say: that remains to be seen. Erica, my name is Samara Joanna Kantaris and I've come for my Rainbowbadge! And mark my words, I'll get it."

_Why the hell did I give my middle name? I don't usually give my first name, let alone…!_

"Is that a challenge?" Erica asked calmly.

"You bet."

"I accept your challenge."

Kantaris had her strategy (if she ever did have a strategy) all lined up already. This was going to be an all-out offensive with her Quilava as the star. Flamethrower, Ember…it would be a breeze. She couldn't lose. _Ha,_ she thought as she faced Erica, _hark at her, trying to big herself up. She's only the fourth Gym Leader. Doesn't take a prodigy to do this job._

"Go, Quilava! Let's burn this place up!" Kantaris stylishly threw the Pokéball in her hand; it released Quilava and she caught it as it returned.

"A Fire Pokémon," Erica remarked with a smile. "How predictable."

Kantaris froze for a second. What if she'd got it wrong? What if this place wasn't a Grass Gym after all? She knew better than anyone else that appearances could be deceiving. But no, Erica released onto the battlefield a Gloom. Kantaris laughed.

"And you call _me_ predictable? Oh, I love your fighting talk. It's so cute, it really is. Let's face it, Erica, you're at a disadvantage here. Why don't you attack first?"

Erica became a tad annoyed, which didn't happen often. She clenched her fist and her mouth turned down into a small scowl.

"Gloom, Poison Powder!" she ordered.

Kantaris was still so busy laughing that she didn't bother telling her Pokémon to get out of the way. Quilava backed off in surprise as the powder rained down on it, sticking to its body and even getting into its eyes. Kantaris stopped laughing. She'd been so sure of herself that she hadn't bothered to buy any Antidotes or anything before coming to the Gym.

"That's what you get for being complacent," Erica said. "I just feel sorry for your Pokémon!"

"You won't feel sorry for it soon," Kantaris replied angrily. "Quilava, Flamethrower!"

Unable to see properly, Quilava began to launch powerful but pointblank blasts of fire around the battlefield. The grass surface was fake: it singed but didn't start a fire. Gloom managed to escape most of the flames due to Quilava's lack of aim, but being slow on its feet, it got hit a couple of times. Kantaris waited for it to faint, but it held on.

"Petal Dance, Gloom!"

Not knowing what to expect, Quilava cowered, but most of the petals simply burned up in the fire on its back. The attack hardly did anything. Kantaris wanted to laugh again, but she restrained herself: Quilava was evidently in pain.

"Hang in there," she said determinedly. "Give it another Flamethrower!"

Shaking the toxic powder from its face, Quilava unleashed a mighty Flamethrower that was simply too big and too strong to dodge. Even Erica at the other side of the battlefield shielded her face from the heat of it.

"Oh, no!" she said when the attack had ended. "Gloom!"

It was out for the count. The smirk returned to Kantaris' face.

"You should call back your Pokémon," Erica said as she did so with hers. "Can't you see it's suffering?"

Kantaris glanced at Quilava. It obviously was suffering, but as long as it could still fight, what was the problem? There was a word for this type of battling, in which trainers pushed their Pokémon to the limits, never forfeiting or switching out during battle. It was called extreme, extremist…something like that. Okay, so it was controversial, but trainers still did it. Kantaris had seen it at the Stadium.

"It'll hold," she said. "Worry about your own."

_Of course she wants me to re-call Quilava. She can't do anything against a Fire Pokémon._

"I choose…Weepinbell!"

As Weepinbell appeared on the battlefield, Quilava was rapidly losing strength. Its legs were shaky and its fire was dying out. Erica and Kantaris both looked at it silently. Kantaris glanced at Erica and saw the look of angry concern on her face. For a moment, she felt guilty. But then she thought, _If Erica wants to drop her guard worrying about my Pokémon, that's her choice. This is my chance._

"Ember attack, Quilava!"

Quilava took a deep, painful breath and shot out a couple of weak fireballs. It could only manage two, and there was no energy behind them. They dissipated into the air before they could even reach their target. Kantaris scowled furiously.

"Fine," she said. "I'm calling back my Quilava and sending out…"

Sending out what? This whole battle was meant to be Quilava's show! She could have sent out Stella to use Psybeam – Weepinbell was a Grass-Poison hybrid and therefore weak to Psychic attacks – but Stella didn't need the training; she did enough work already. Tempest was a Flying type, but that was just out of the question and Kantaris knew it; nevertheless, she was very, very tempted.

_Stop being so predictable_, she told herself._ Break the rules a little._

"Kantaris calls Diglett!" she said. _'Kantaris calls…?' Ugh. How cheesy. Remind me not to do that again._

"Diglett?" Erica looked taken aback as the tiny Diglett emerged onto the battlefield. Surely her opponent couldn't have made a worse choice than that. "Grass versus Ground?"

Kantaris smiled.

"Mud Slap!" she commanded.

Diglett churned up a wad of dirt and flung it into Weepinbell's face, knocking it down.

"Ground versus Poison," Kantaris said. "Tisk, tisk. You forgot all about that, didn't you?"

Weepinbell set itself up again, blinking the dirt from its eyes.

"You'll regret that," Erica said. "Razor Leaf, Weepinbell!"

"Diglett, Dig!"

Diglett burrowed down and disappeared beneath the surface of the battlefield. Erica shrank back apprehensively. Weepinbell looked around in confusion. Suddenly Diglett burst through the battlefield directly under Weepinbell, sending it flying almost all the way up to the vine-covered ceiling. Erica gasped in horror and ran onto the battlefield to catch her Pokémon as it fell. Kantaris raised an eyebrow in mild surprise. _Wow. This chick really cares about her Pokémon._

Setting her fainted Weepinbell down at the edge of the field, Erica seized another Pokéball from her belt. Her belt was hidden underneath a translucent thing that she was wearing around her shoulders, so Kantaris couldn't see exactly how many Pokémon she had. Then, just as Erica was about to release her next Pokémon, her gaze fell on Diglett and she gasped. Kantaris looked at Diglett in confusion, wondering what Erica was staring at. She saw that it was glowing.

"Your Diglett!" Erica said excitedly. "It's…it's…"

"Evolving? Oh, that's cool," Kantaris said, sounding not half as excited as Erica.

Where the little Diglett had once stood, a formidable looking Dugtrio now occupied its place, its three faces all bearing tough expressions. That was just how Kantaris liked her Pokémon.

"Congratulations!" Erica exclaimed.

"Save it," Kantaris said snappily. "Release your next Pokémon."

Still looking at the Diglett-turned-Dugtio, Erica frowned a little but hit the button on her Pokéball. An Ivysaur materialized on the battlefield.

"Another Poison hybrid?" Kantaris asked. "Ain't you learnt your lesson yet, Erica? Dugtrio, go! Magnitude!"

"Solarbeam, Ivysaur!"

A rumble was heard and felt from underground. Then the battlefield was churned up in a ripple that rapidly spread from Dugtrio towards Ivysaur, which was powering itself up for Solarbeam. Kantaris couldn't tell whether Ivysaur jumped into the air (she'd never contemplated that Ivysaurs were able to jump that high) or whether it was thrown into the air by the Magnitude attack as it hit. Either way, it launched its Solarbeam attack from the air, knocking Dugtrio out instantly, and landed unharmed. The battlefield was now a complete mess; it looked more like a rock terrain than a grass field. But Kantaris loved to make a mark. She called back her fainted Dugtrio and released her Eevee. It was relatively weak, but it needed the experience.

"Quick Attack, Eevee!"

It may have been weak but it was quick. It rushed at Ivysaur headlong, hitting it in the side and sending it tumbling across the roughed-up battlefield. Ivysaur landed at Erica's feet, who ushered it back onto he field gently with some words of encouragement. Kantaris rolled her eyes.

"Tackle!" she ordered.

_I really need to teach this thing some new attacks_, she thought.

As if it had read its trainer's mind, Eevee tried its best to impress with the few attacks that it did have. First it ran at Ivysaur again, hitting it head on with a respectable Tackle attack. Then it followed this up with a Bite attack. Kantaris was reasonably impressed, and to her disappointment, so was Erica.

"That's a great little Eevee you have there," she said, even though it had just knocked out her Ivysaur.

Erica smiled and knelt at the edge of the battlefield. Kantaris' jaw dropped as Eevee scampered over to Erica who began stroking its head fondly.

"I just have a way with Pokémon," Erica said, reading Kantaris' expression. To Kantaris' Eevee, she said, "Run along now!"

Eevee did so, running to its trainer joyfully and rubbing itself against her legs. Kantaris stared down at it blankly, not sure what she should do. Feeling a little strange, she knelt down and stroked its fur for a few seconds. She'd never realized how soft it was before.

"Make the most of it," Erica said. "When Eevees evolve, they don't feel half as soft, no matter what they evolve into."

Kantaris said nothing but called Eevee back into its Pokéball.

"You have the criteria to qualify for a Rainbowbadge, Miss Kantaris. Congratulations on your victory." She unpinned a colourful badge from her collar and walked along the edge of the battlefield to give it to Kantaris. "You're raising some great Pokémon, you know. Make sure you take care of them. I get the impression that you're aiming for the League title?"

"Of course."

"Then I should tell you that love and compassion for your Pokémon are essential if you want to make it that far."

Kantaris said nothing. Erica wasn't entirely right: it wasn't _essential_ to be loving and compassionate to be a good trainer. Well, that depended on what 'good' meant. A morally good trainer would, of course, be loving and caring towards their Pokémon, treating them as friends first and foremost. But to be a skillfully good trainer, strength was the most important thing. Kantaris knew all too well of the 'care culture' that surrounded Pokémon training. Young trainers everywhere were indoctrinated into the 'Pokémon are not war' line of thought, and if their careers as trainers were ever cut short they beat themselves up thinking that they didn't love their Pokémon enough. It was most evident in the case of the League Champion, who was always regarded as a figure of pure and perfect kindness and goodness, whoever he/she was. That was the ideal that upcoming trainers were supposed to work towards.

But Kantaris was on the left-hand path. She'd broken free from the conventions of Pokémon training: she'd spent most of her time training amongst Rockets, and she'd had, as a mentor, Kanto's greatest Gym Leader. And he was anything but compassionate. Even Kantaris secretly hoped that she wasn't as harsh a trainer as Giovanni. But most of all, she wasn't falling for the mainstream values. Strength, tactical ability, stamina and stealth: that's what Champions were made of.

But deep down, Kantaris did have some sense of morality and she knew that Erica had a point. She looked down at the Rainbowbadge in her hand and for a fleeting moment she wondered if she did deserve it. But she pinned it to her coat. She was only halfway through the Gym Challenge after all. If she wanted to change her attitude, she had time to do so. Maybe she would. Maybe she wouldn't. She'd have to see.


End file.
